“This fifth place could have been a good starting point, but I wanted something better” – Ena Bastianini

Enea Bastianini started the MotoGP season with a fifth place finish at the Qatar Grand Prix – after finishing sixth in the sprint race. The results fall short of Ducati's potential, so the rider leaves Lucille completely unsatisfied.

The Italian told the press: 'For me it was nothing special because I tried to be a little slower at the beginning to be a lot faster at the end of the race. But this was not the right choice because in the end the drop in performance was less compared to Saturday. I should have tried to do my best from the start and I'm not happy about that. But overall, this fifth place could be a good starting point. But my goal was to achieve something better'.

When asked if he had managed to improve the bike's balance after the sprint, Bastianini admitted that the route he took was not ideal:'We may have been working in one direction, but it wasn't the right direction because the problem was pretty much the same. We'll have to see why you were so much faster during the test in the race simulator than you were in Sunday's race. The conditions were different too, but I think I now have a lot of data to check for the next round. I think we can be half satisfied'.