Bagnaia Tire Trouble Ends Motegi Sprint Early
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 3, 2026
Bagnaia’s sprint retirement
Severe rear tire vibration forced Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia out of the 12-lap Motegi Sprint, turning a race that had already started from 13th on the grid into a short and difficult afternoon. He gained two positions early, but the problem kept growing and became progressively worse from halfway through the sprint. Bagnaia said he thought ninth place was possible before the issue got worse late. He said the tire slipped under acceleration, overheated and later developed vibration and chunking. That left him fighting the bike instead of racing it to the finish. The retirement capped a sprint in which the rear of the Ducati never settled and the track kept asking more from the tire with every lap.
Bagnaia’s qualifying struggles
Bagnaia’s troubles started before the sprint. He finished 16th in Friday practice and was 0.775 seconds behind Alex Marquez. He was the only Ducati GP26 rider not directly into Q2 and had to go through Q1 for the sixth consecutive race. That session ended with another setback when he went wide at the final chicane and failed to reach Q2. Bagnaia said “everything” was different with his Ducati at Motegi, and he said the season-long rear-grip problems returned. He described the bike as having “completely zero grip” and said braking had been difficult as well. The new asphalt did not change the picture. The setup changes the team tried did not work either. That left him trying to build speed on a bike that gave him little traction and little confidence. He won at Motegi 12 months earlier, so this weekend has been a sharp contrast from the form he showed at the same circuit a year ago. On Friday, the lack of grip showed up in practice. On Saturday, the same weakness kept him from moving through qualifying cleanly.
Bagnaia’s Grand Prix outlook
Bagnaia did find a small improvement from Friday to Saturday. He said he took a step forward compared with Friday, but the gain was too small to change the bigger picture. He is scheduled to start Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix 13th on the grid, and he said he expects another difficult race in the Grand Prix. The medium rear tire might be the best option for the next day, he said, but the problem is larger than tire choice alone. That sequence took away any chance to build a stable race pace. Bagnaia still has the same task in front of him, finding enough rear grip to make the Ducati work over a full Grand Prix distance. The track has already exposed the limits of the package this weekend. He will line up for Sunday with the same starting spot and the same set of problems that have followed him through practice, qualifying and the sprint.
