The Aragon weekend confirmed Pecco Bagnaia’s worst fears, as he had already anticipated difficulties after morning problems in FP2.

‘I was knowing that it would be difficult today because in the FP2 this morning, I was struggling, I wasn’t happy with my feeling,’ admitted the factory Ducati rider. Despite managing to qualify fourth, the sprint race proved to be torment.

The central problem remains under braking, where front wheel locking continues to hamper his pace. ‘I was trying to brake hard but the front was locking a lot. I was understeering a lot, and it was really tough,’ described Bagnaia.

The most critical moment of the race happened at Turn 7: ‘Then I just went wide [at Turn 7] trying to copy and brake in the same place as the rider in front of me. But I started to lock and I went wide. I was stuck there and it was tough, really tough today.’

For Sunday’s race, hope lies in a compound change: ‘For tomorrow we have to try another different thing. Already the medium will help to have less understeering, but it will be tough.’