Bagnaia's frustration: "I've become poor at braking... This Ducati's DNA doesn't suit me."

At Brno , we witnessed yet another two-faced weekend for Ducati. Marc Marquez won both the Sprint and Sunday's long race for the fifth consecutive round, extending his lead in the Riders' standings over his brother Alex, who crashed, and his teammate. While the Spaniard is at one with the GP25 and wins in any conditions, even if he doesn't start from pole, the same cannot be said of Bagnaia. His difficulties with this season's bike are now well-known and evident, and in the Czech Republic, another chapter is added, one steeped in frustration. After Friday's mistakes and the electronics problems in the Sprint, Pecco managed to maintain the race lead for only a few corners, overtaken first by Bezzecchi and then by three other riders. Another disappointing weekend, unable to react to the attacks of his rivals, as he himself explained to Sky Sport after the race.

This year's Bagnaia isn't the one we're used to seeing. With a champion-like reaction to Ducati's mistakes on Friday, he took his first pole of the season in Brno, but he failed to convert it into a pole position in any of the races. It's clear how easily the other riders on the grid are able to pass him, and how he's unable to respond. Pecco himself highlighted this difficulty to Sky Sport: "I've been complaining about my problems in braking and corner entry, ever since Thailand. I've always been very difficult to overtake, and anyone who tried to do so went wide. Now the situation has reversed: I'm one of the worst, everyone overtakes me in braking because I can't brake hard. When I try to do so, they close in on me on the straight, or I go wide. I'm having trouble in that part; it's a very difficult limbo to manage." The problem lies in the project, which, although the Turin native is familiar with, doesn't suit his characteristics: "We're trying a little bit of everything and we can't make any improvements in that area. So I really think the DNA of this bike doesn't fit 100% with my request up front. We need to hold on." In the Riders' standings, while Marc Marquez remains untouchable, his brother Alex is getting closer, thanks to his crash in Brno: "The goal has changed in this first part of the season, because we started out to win the championship, but we need to be realistic. Thinking of fighting for the title against Marc in these conditions is difficult. So we need to start from another point, try to catch up to Alex, and then focus on improving until the end to try to be ready for next year."

"There's still a long way to go, but only I can lose the title": this is how Marc Marquez introduced himself to Sky Sport after winning his 19th out of 24 races (including the Sprints). "I'm happy and calm. That's the most important thing. After the Aragon test, we made progress in terms of the setup. We've moved a little more in the direction of the other Ducatis, and I feel better: I can be just as fast, but I feel more confident. This was important because it allowed me to give 100% in the last five races." This dominance is even more impressive considering Marc is new to the Ducati garage: "It seems like I'm doing well on all tracks in all conditions now, whether there are more right-handers or left-handers. I'm really happy about this, because we mustn't forget that I joined a new team at the start of the season. We worked really well right from the start, but we still had room for improvement. I also understood Ducati's working method, which is different from Gresini's, especially on weekends, because there are more engineers. Now we can take advantage of everything to give 100% not in every race, but in every session."