Ducati apologises for poor start in MotoGP, but only to one rider

Ducati team boss Davide Tardozzi has apologised to Francesco Bagnaia after a disastrous opening weekend at the MotoGP Grand Prix of Qatar.

Bagnaia finished second in the 2021 championship and is considered one of the favorites for this year's world title. However, his team had a poor start to the season, with both of the factory team's engines failing to finish.

The Ducati team is known for having perhaps the best bikes in the field, albeit with a steep learning curve. In the first race weekend of the year, however, the Italian team didn't hit the mark. Bagnaia crashed, and teammate Jack Miller had to park his bike in the garage early.

Ducati apologises to one of its riders

Miller seemingly has no apologies to expect, as the statement is aimed purely at Bagnaia. The latter was quick to place the blame for his crash on his team. "I am not a test rider, I am here to win," he said according to The Race. "If we decide to work like this, it will clearly be more difficult to achieve the same results as last year."

Ducati team boss Tardozzi then apologised. "What happened was not acceptable and that is something we have to think about," he says. He added that mistakes were made and that this should not happen a second time. "It was our mistake, not Pecco's," Tardozzi says.