MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia makes the difference by ‘5 degrees’
Riding with hand injuries from Le Mans, Luca Marini narrowly missed out on a home Mugello podium in last weekend’s Italian MotoGP.
Meanwhile, countryman and factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia extended his title lead with a perfect double of Sprint and Grand Prix wins.
The analytical Marini was clear where the reigning world champion had the edge.
“He is able to gain everything in the last corner. Three-tenths a lap,” Marini revealed.
“He brakes well. If I try to brake like him, I cannot turn the bike like him in the middle of the corner. Then [like in all] the left corners in the world, Pecco leans less. Less than everybody.
“Because for his riding style, he stays five degrees more upright with the bike. So he has a lot of grip. But even if he has less lean angle, he still turns better than you.
“So he has a very good setting. He can ride the bike very well, and then he is also very good at doing everything correctly with his bike. He deserved this race [victory] because all weekend he was the strongest.”
Pressed on how he thinks Bagnaia can lean the bike less than the others, Marini added:
“Ducati said because with his body he goes lower, and so the centre of gravity is in the same position as you [with more lean angle] because he's so [low] off the bike.
“I tried, but for me it’s impossible, because I'm so tall. If I try to do this, then to pick myself up and go onto the other side of the bike, for example, I'm very slow. So, it's impossible. Everybody has to keep his own riding style.”
Bagnaia’s left-hand skills could pay dividends this weekend at the Sachsenring, which contains ten left-hand corners, but just three on the right.
