Friday at the Aragon MotoGP saw Francesco Bagnaia make more changes to both bike se�꧋�t-up and riding style in his quest to unlock the Ducati GP25’s potential.

The double world champion felt he had reasonable pace on used tyr💃es, but on new soft tyres he was left 0.788s behind team-mate Marc Marquez, in ninth place.

“We are trying different things and it's not an easy situation because the bike is the same as the previous races, so we are trying to find different solutions,” said Bagnaia, who was trying the ‘longer’ Ohlins front fork.

“Today we decided to go with the long forks, and 🍷the feeling was the same, more or less.

“I'm struggl﷽ing to put speed on the entrance [to the corners] so it's the same limit that I’m having from the ꧑start [with the GP25].

“And in this tᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚrack, where the grip is very low, it's even wo💃rse because you don't get the confidence to enter fast.

“When I try to enter fast, I lose the front, and it becomes worse with the time attack using the new⛄ soft rear.

“With the medium rear, I was quite confident with the pace. I was trying to be consistent with the used tyre and the pace wasn't bad - apart from Marc, that at the moment 🍌is on anothe🔯r level.

“But considering the others, we were very close.

“Then as soon we put the soft rear, I started to struggle more. I only dropped five tenths, and I started to have a lot of front locking. I was losing the front a lo🔴t, and the understeer was huge.

“So we just need to change a bit the setup and maybe the balance of the ꧒bike for tomorrow, and try to find different 🥂solutions.”

Pecco Bagnaia: "I had 30 metres of locking"

Bagnaia has also tried to move away from his na🏅tural hard-braking ridin🐬g style.

“The one of bra🍌king as much as I can, l🌄ike I was doing before, is not working [with this bike],” he said.

“I'm losing the front while I'm s𓂃traight. Today I had 30 metres of locking. So it's unbelievable and I need to do different things.”

Neverthele꧟ss, Bagnaia insists “✃winning” remains his target this weekend.

♕“I'm an optimistic guy. I know that we are speaking about details and that maybe tomorrow morning, some little changes can make a huge difference.

“We will try at least to start ℱfrom the front row and then try 🌳to win the race.

“We know perfectly how Marc is strong here. He's ma𒁏king the difference. In Sector 2, he is giving to me five tenths. So we need to solve some problems.

“But apart from that, we just need to be focused on the work because we know that th🏅e potential that Marc is showing is there.

“So we need to find a way also for myself.”

Qualifying won’t just be about starting as close to the front as possible, but securing a place on the gr🔴ippier parꦛt of the grid.

“We spoke ab♏out [the grid in the Safety Commission], we asked to clean it,” he confirmed. “But the problem is not that it’s ver📖y dusty, it's more that the grip is very low.

“Starting today from third position on the grid, I spun until the first corner. Then I 🏅started from second position, in t♓he middle, and I just spun a bit in third gear.”

Pecco Bagnaia: “I will never quit what I signed”

Bagnaia also addressed internet rumours that he could be a dream target for Yamaha next season, despite having a contra𓄧ct with Ducati until the end of 2026.

“That, I don't understand,” he said. “Because when there's a signed contract, like I said on Thursday in Silverstone, I will never quꩵit what I signed. This i🥃s something that will never change in my life.

“I want to stay in Ducati, Ducati wa🦄nt me to stay… until the finish of this contract and also the next one. So I don't why.

“I started hearing a lot, seeing a lot oꩲf posts of me with [photoshoppཧed] blue leathers.

“It's true that a rider like me that is in some hard 🏅mom🦩ent, people can start thinking ‘maybe he will go’. But it's not what is happening to me.”