Francesco Bagnaia Credits Dani Pedrosa's Advice for Progress at Austrian GP

After struggling in MotoGP since the summer break without scoring a point and missing direct Q2 qualification for four consecutive weekends, Francesco Bagnaia experienced a mild return to form at the Austrian Grand Prix. The Friday session began poorly as he missed the top 10 again, but the Ducati rider managed to clear Q1 on Saturday, qualified seventh, and finished the weekend's races in sixth and seventh place.

Bagnaia credited his improvement to a TV broadcast comment made on DAZN by KTM test rider Dani Pedrosa, who suggested doing more laps to better understand the bike to control results. Taking this advice, the 29-year-old treated Saturday's sprint as a test session by choosing the medium tyre over the faster soft option to prepare for Sunday's long race.

In addition to the tactical approach, Bagnaia noted a technical step made on Saturday morning despite damp track conditions, explaining that a set-up adjustment allowed him to stop the bike better and use the rear to turn. Although Sunday felt less positive as Ducati battled brake difficulties, factory team-mate Marc Marquez was the only man to beat him in the grand prix as he looks ahead to Motegi.