Bagnaia explains ‘bizarre’ crash with Vinales at end of first practice
Francesco Bagnaia has explained why he fell off his bike at the end of the first practice session.
Francesco Bagnaia was running at a slow pace at the end of first practice in Barcelona, before Vinales passed him on the outside at close to race pace at the end of the start/finish straight.
The front of his GP24 then locked up and Bagnaia went down at the first corner. The Ducati rider managed to get to his feet without serious injury.
This was a rather strange accident because the session had already finished and the drivers were only on the track for start practice.
Explaining what happened, Bagnaia admitted he slowed the bike down more than he should have, but added that he was caught off guard by not expecting the Aprilia rider to pass on the outside of the right-hand corner.
“I had a slide at the back at the start, so I didn’t want to push the bike too hard,” said Bagnaia.
“It was my mistake to slow the bike down so much. But Vinales should have passed me on the inside, coming so fast, there was enough space on the inside.
“When I heard him I thought he was going to pass on the inside. But when I saw him coming down the kerb at race speed I got scared and lost the front of the bike.”
“This bike doesn’t like it when you change direction suddenly. So you have to be more gentle and I couldn’t do that at that moment.”
Vinales said that he left enough distance to Bagnaia when he passed him and that the Italian driver may have braked hard because he was scared.
“It doesn’t matter who’s at fault. The aim of a practice start is to practice the start, you brake late as you enter the first corner.”
“Pecco was in the middle and he was very slow. I decided to pass him on the outside and gave him a two-bike gap. I didn’t even get close.”
“When I saw the accident I thought I must have caused it but when I watched the replay I saw that there was plenty of distance. I think he was scared at that moment so he braked hard and locked the tyre.”
