Dani Pedrosa believes Pecco Bagnaia needs to change his immediate focus: rather than measuring every effort by its result, he should concentrate on riding the motorcycle. The former MotoGP rider, current KTM test rider and DAZN pundit made the point as the two-time world champion continues to struggle at Ducati.

Bagnaia has crashed out of each of the last three grands prix. His run of successive Q1 appearances has also reached four. The contrast inside the team is pronounced. Marc Marquez has taken five wins in the last seven races and currently heads the championship standings, while Bagnaia’s recent results have kept the pressure high.

The underlying issue has been rear grip, a problem Bagnaia has faced throughout the year. He was still able to fight for podiums before the summer break, but the situation worsened after Silverstone and Ducati has so far been unable to solve it. Tension appeared to rise again at Misano, where DAZN footage captured Bagnaia saying that his team would not let him try a standard set-up on his GP26.

Why Pedrosa wants a different focus

Pedrosa, a 31-time MotoGP race winner, said on DAZN that targets such as making Q2, qualifying on the front row or reaching the podium can distort how a rider judges the rest of a session. In his view, riding returns through feel, while a lack of confidence makes it difficult to ride comfortably. He also acknowledged how hard that advice is to follow within the factory Ducati team while Marquez is winning alongside Bagnaia. Even so, Pedrosa argues that temporarily taking the result out of the equation could give Bagnaia the space to recover his riding feel.