Francesco Bagnaia arrived in Qatar with high hopes of continuing the strong performance he showed at COTA. But by Saturday evening, those hopes had turned into visible frustration.

Pecco had looked solid all weekend. He even managed to close the gap to his teammate, Marc Marquez. But when it came to the all-important qualifying session, it all fell apart like a house of cards.

“I f***** up in qualifying,” Bagnaia admitted to MotoGP.com, visibly annoyed after crashing out. The fall came during his final lap attempt and ended prematurely at Turn 4, leaving him starting 11th on the grid—far from ideal when you’re trying to stop Marquez from dominating another weekend.

Pecco’s frustration was easy to understand. He had been absolutely flying in the morning session and felt completely in sync with his GP25, even on used tires.

“Honestly, I was super-fast this morning,” he said to MotoGP.com. “The feeling was fantastic—I could ride exactly how I wanted.”

But qualifying disrupted that rhythm. Unsatisfied with his first run and feeling no better on the second, Bagnaia returned from pit lane determined to make a statement. He went on to set the fastest first sector of the session—but that fine line between brilliance and disaster? Pecco crossed it.

“I ran a bit too fast into Turn 4, and when I tried to let the bike in, I lost the front after already slipping the rear a little,” he explained to Crash.net. “Completely my mistake.”

Unfortunately, the crash didn’t just cost him grid position—it derailed his entire weekend. In the sprint race, Bagnaia made some progress, but it wasn’t enough. He finished a frustrating eighth.

To make matters worse, he was overtaken by Jorge Martin—his 2024 title rival—who had just returned to racing after missing the first three rounds of the season due to injury. That’s a bitter pill to swallow for Bagnaia.

“I’ve been struggling with sprints since they were introduced,” Bagnaia admitted to Motorsport.com. “Overtaking just isn’t clicking for me in these shorter races. I can’t brake like I want to. It’s strange because the only technical difference is the smaller fuel tank. But I’m the only one having this issue, and that’s the part that really annoys me.”

Still, Pecco isn’t throwing in the towel. There’s another race on Sunday—and that’s where he’s putting his focus.

“For tomorrow, I know the potential is there to fight for the podium,” he said to MotoGP.com. “I’m confident in the bike, and I’m confident in myself. I just need to get it right.”

So while Saturday was a disaster, Sunday could be a completely different story for Bagnaia. And with his proven pace, it would be unwise to count him out just yet.