The factory Ducati rider was amongst the list of favourites to challenge for victory in Saturday’s 10-lap sprint at the Circuit of the Americas after qualifying fourth.
But from the off Bagnaia’s pace was nowhere near the leaders’, as he plummeted to 10th off the line and could only fight back to score two points in eighth – 9.349 seconds behind race winner Maverick Vinales.
He blamed a lack of rear grip on his rear Michelin medium tyre but stopped short of pointing the finger at the French brand for a potentially faulty option.
“Much more difficult compared to this morning in FP2 when three laps more than a sprint race I was doing 2m02.4s on the last lap,” he said.
“And today, 2m02.8 or 9s was impossible. So, we have to understand and tomorrow we have another race and we have to check the data tonight.
“First of all the start, I spin at the start and already everything was f*****.
“Then it was very difficult to push. Every time I was trying to push, the rear was sliding a lot, I was losing the rear everywhere and it was very difficult to perform how I wanted.”
Source: Autosport