Marco Bezzecchi
Ducati star Francesco Bagnaia knows it will be “crucial” that he avoids a repeat of the issue that dogged him at Mugello and Balaton Park to reach another podium at Brno.
Bagnaia is enjoying his best run of results since the end of the 2024 campaign, having taken podium finishes in each of the past three rounds. But while the 29-year-old finished third in the Grands Prix in Catalunya, Italy and Hungary, only his P3 at Mugello came on merit alone.
Honda rider Joan Mir lost his podium finish in Barcelona due to a tyre pressure penalty that promoted Bagnaia onto the rostrum. Bagnaia had even crashed at the first restart after Alex Marquez’s crash with Pedro Acosta in Montmelo, but he was able to take the second restart.
The huge Turn 1 crash that Jorge Martin caused at Balaton Park also helped Bagnaia to take P3 in the Hungarian Grand Prix last Sunday. Martin took himself, Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio out of the mix for the rostrum, and Bagnaia went on to enjoy a lonely race.
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Francesco Bagnaia knows he must improve his rear grip woes at the Czech Grand Prix
Bagnaia is now looking forward to returning to Brno for the Czech Grand Prix on June 19-21, having scored pole position there last season despite his difficulties with the Ducati GP25. A repeat result in 2026 will depend on how Bagnaia is able to extract rear grip from the GP26.
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The twisty nature of Brno leaves Bagnaia with no doubts that it will be “crucial” that he has a good set-up on his Ducati GP26 to avoid excessive rear tyre wear. Bagnaia felt he wore out his rear tyre “too much” at Mugello, and he suffered from a lack of rear grip at Balaton Park.
Bagnaia told Sky Sports Italy while looking ahead to the 2026 Czech GP: “Last year, despite the difficulties, I still started from pole and didn’t do so badly. So, it was a good weekend.
“It will be crucial, though, to find that rear-end grip, because there are plenty of changes of direction there, too. It’s true that there’s a lot of grip, but the tyre wears down.
“So, I need to take a small step forward. Still, it’s a track I really like, and it’s great to be able to race on a track like this again.”
Bagnaia claimed “I can’t do anything” at Balaton Park due to his lack of rear grip in practice last Friday, despite the grip offered from the tarmac. The Italian majorly struggled for speed and had to go through Q1, as his rear tyre spun freely whenever he turned into the corners.
Fortunately, Bagnaia was never threatened from behind during the Hungarian GP due to his rear grip woes, and he got a third straight P3 finish in the books. But Bagnaia almost lost P3 in the Italian Grand Prix to Ai Ogura in the final corner because of his rear tyre wearing out.
Ogura overshot his chance to overtake Bagnaia into the final corner, but the Trackhouse ace had far more speed at the end of the race at Mugello than the Ducati star. So, if Bagnaia has issues with his rear tyre again at Brno, he might have to rely on fortune for another podium.
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