Francesco Bagnaia explains Australian GP crash: “I told myself I won’t finish last”

Bagnaia showed improved pace on Sunday at Phillip Island, even if he came away empty-handed

Francesco Bagnaia says he crashed out of the Australian Grand Prix because he was determined not to finish last again after a dreadful showing in Saturday’s sprint.

Starting the race from 14th on the grid after a three-place penalty for impeding a rival in qualifying, Bagnaia initially lost ground and dropped as low as 18th in the early stages of the race.

However, he mounted an impressive charge to rise up to 12th by lap 23, overtaking the likes of polesitter Fabio Quartararo and VR46’s Franco Morbidelli while also benefitting from crashes for Jack Miller and Joan Mir.

But four laps from the finish, Bagnaia lost the front end of his Ducati and slid out of the race at Siberia, marking his third retirement in four grands prix.

Speaking afterwards, the two-time MotoGP champion said he had pushed beyond the edge to avoid a repeat of the sprint race, when he had finished more than 30s off the lead in 19th position.

“When you are on the limit, really on the limit, a bit more on the limit than the limit, it's easy to crash,” he said.

“I accepted it because I said to myself, I will not finish last again. So I pushed like today, I accepted that it was possible to crash and I crashed.

“Luckily, I had almost finished the race, it was really five-six laps [from the finish]. But I was recovering, so the top 10 was possible.

“Unluckily, I just fell off, because I was pushing the rear, and as soon the rear came back from the slide, I lost the front.”

Bagnaia was circulating 14s off the lead when he went down at Siberia on lap 24, a marked improvement from the pace he demonstrated in the sprint on Saturday.

The Italian revealed that a change of direction following a tough warm-up session on Sunday morning helped him run near the cusp of the top 10.

“Honestly, [the feeling] was better than yesterday,” he said. “Luckily, this morning we tried something that was not working completely, so we just moved in the other direction and the bike was much more stable.

“More difficult to ride from the heaviness, but at least it was a bit better. I was able to force a bit more, I was able to ride at a pace that was faster than the riders in the front, so I was recovering.

“I needed a bit of time in the first two-three laps to understand it, because I was struggling a bit. I understood that if I was very tight on the bike, I was having less movement, much more difficult to ride, but it was a bit better.”