Francesco Bagnaia reveals Valentino Rossi advice for Austrian MotoGP

Francesco Bagnaia stormed to victory in the Austrian MotoGP, securing his third Sprint-Grand Prix double of the season.

A member of the VR46 Rider Academy almost since its inception, Bagnaia has grown as a rider under the tutelage of nine-times World Champion Valentino Rossi. Before the start in Austria, he received some straightforward advice from his mentor.

“Before the race, he [Rossi] just said to me that what I did yesterday [in the Sprint] was already good, so just try to repeat it,” Bagnaia told the post-race press conference.

Bagnaia continued, and expanded on the kind of fraternity that exists between the various VR46 Academy members.

“After the race, he was just very happy, also because Celestino [Vietti] just won his first race of the year, he wasn’t in a good situation, so we are very happy for him; I think Bezzecchi did a good race also; Franky wasn’t the best race but he managed to come back a lot; so I think it’s a very good weekend for the Academy.”

Understandably, the opinion of Rossi is one that Bagnaia values, and actively seeks out on race weekends, even when Rossi isn’t present at the track.

“It’s always important to have Vale with us, but I speak a lot with him also when he’s not here,” he said. “We text a lot, and I think he’s super useful because I need his point of view. So, when he’s here it’s true that he has to focus more on his team, but in the evening we spoke yesterday and on Friday. I need his point of view.”

Speaking more broadly about his race in Austria, Bagnaia spoke of his satisfaction at his own pace, and how he managed the race.

“Yesterday was a very great race, with a bit of luck with Jorge’s penalty,” he said. “But then today I think we did a very fantastic pace. It was incredible, the speed we had.

“I was just trying to be a bit faster every lap compared to Jorge just to have this kind of gap in the last part of the race, and again control a bit with the rear. I was having a lot of ‘waving’ [weaving] in the straight with the rear tyre, and it was important to have this kind of gap just to manage it.”