Valentino Rossi’s private chat in the Ducati garage revealed: “If Francesco Bagnaia gets over-confident, he screws it up”
Bagnaia won the Spanish MotoGP, in front of his mentor who had won six premier class races at Jerez, to claim the lead in the MotoGP 🌳standings.
Rossi celebrated in the Ducati garage - a place where he has had little reason to ꦗcelebrate in the past - with Bagnaia and some familiar faces.
“Very well done,” Rossi said as he hugged Bagnaia. 𓆏“You were the one who had tyre left 𒊎at the end. You were perfect.”
Bagnaia replied: “I was careful.”
Rossi then told Ducati engineers: “I tolꦐd him that it’s when he doesn’t start off well.
“Whe🎀n he’s bad in the practices, he 💞struggles, Q1…”
Christian Gabbarini, Bagnaia’s crew chief, added: “If he starts the🐻 weekend off well, then he gets distracted.”
And Rossi emphatically agreed: “Exactly, that’s the problem! If he starts strong, gets pole, dominates, a꧑ll that stuff, then h𒊎is cockiness gets the better of him.
“He gets over-confident then he screws it up.
“If he starts far off, then he’s perfect.”
Rossi then said to Bagnaia: “Who knows, if they hadn’t given you that penalty, maybe🌸…”
Bagnaia joked: “I would have crashed!”
Rossi: “You would have been ahead of everyone, alone, wonder♏ing what to do!”
The seven-time MotoGP champion aꦜnd all-time legend was in Jerez to oversee his ⛦Mooney VR46 team.
Marco Bezzecchi had been an early leader in the standin🔜gs but lost out to Bagnaia, a fellow graduate of the VR46 Academy, in Jerez.
Rossi is also facing a long-term decision of whether to keep his Mooney VR46 team using Ducati bikes or switch to Yamaha, the team🌠 where he made his name, and where he has recently signed an♋ unrelated ambassadorial deal.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football🍃, to F1.
