Francesco Bagnaia’s suspicious comment about Enea Bastianini at 2022 Malaysian MotoGP is a reminder of underlying tension
Factory Ducati rider Bagnaia found that Gresini Racing’s Bastianini was his biggest threat at stages of late-2022 as he won his first MotoGP championship.
Bastianini knew at that stage that Bagnaia was his future teammate andꦇ, as the 2023 season looms with both riders now wearing ๊red, the newly-released footage is a reminder of old tensions within Ducati.
Bagn💟aia was angrily returning to the garage afteꦛr crashing during FP3 at Sepang last year when he erupted, as shown by MotoGP Video Pass' 'There Can Only Be One'.
He said: “Morbidelli, Quartararo, Bezzecchi and Fer🐈nandez in the middle of the track!
“And Bastianini? With me 🔴or against me? What is he doing?”
Ducati general manager Gigi Dall’Igna told 😼him: “Let’s have a reset and think about FP4. We’re doing alright. We’re working well.”
Bagnaia: “We’re fast and we’re doing well.”
Dall’Igna: ✤“We need to focus on the things we can﷽ control. End of story.”
Another voice in the garage told Bagnaia: “If their intention w🎀as to annoy you, they win if you get flust♋ered.”
An angry Bagnaia said: “They don’t care if 💛I’m nervous, they just want me out o𒁃f Q2.”
The dynamic within the garage will be a fascinating aspect of the 2023 season given that Bastianini won the second൩-most races last ♍season, behind Bagnaia.
Bastianini must deal with m♚ore pressure this season as💎 part of the factory line-up.
How Dall’Igna and co will manage their hyper-compe🅠titive riders remains to be seen, particularly if both are, as expected, in the hunt for the champion🌳ship.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a de🃏cade covering everything from 🌌American sports, to football, to F1.
