Interview: Pecco Bagnaia's Crew Chief Cristian Gabarrini On Bagnaia's Turnaround, Sprint Races, Ride-Height Devices, And Rider Feedback

By David Emmett | Mon, 20/03/2023 - 09:15


Cristian Gabarrini (right) celebrating with Pecco Bagnaia after winning the Dutch TT at Assen in 2022

It is hard to overstate just how big the turnaround of Pecco Bagnaia's season was in 2022. Going into the Dutch TT at Assen, Bagnaia trailed championship leader Fabio Quartararo by 91 points. Ten races later, Bagnaia clinched the championship at Valencia with an advantage of 17 points. The Italian had clawed back 108 points in ten races, an average of nearly 11 points a race.

The man who helped Bagnaia achieve that incredible comeback has experience winning world championships. Ducati Lenovo Team crew chief Cristian Gabarrini already had two MotoGP titles under his belt with Casey Stoner, first at Ducati, then at Honda. He oversaw Marc Márquez' first championship in 2013, as technical advisor in the Repsol Honda team, before returning to Ducati.

He is a quiet, modest man, softly spoken, who weighs his words carefully. That meticulousness is also apparent in his work as a crew chief: Pecco Bagnaia's garage is well organized and well run, the bike always ready for Bagnaia when he needs it. He is thoughtful, his responses to questions revealing a very sharp intellect indeed.

At Sepang, I had a long and very in-depth interview with Cristian Gabarrini. We spoke about the pressure of defending a championship, how sprint races will change MotoGP this season, how Pecco Bagnaia turned his season around, and the change Gabarrini saw in the Italian.

We also talked more broadly about riding a MotoGP machine. How aerodynamics and ride-height devices have changed traction, about finding the right balance between getting maximum performance from a new tire in qualifying and a used tire in the race, how the rider is the best sensor a crew chief has on the bike, and how Bagnaia is both very similar and very different to Casey Stoner.

Q: You have done the easy part, winning a title. Now you have to do the hard part, defending it. You've defended titles before, with Casey Stoner. What will you change this year, compared to last year, or just do the same thing?

Cristian Gabarrini: But if you think about my side, or the way to approach, it's exactly the same. I hope this year we will start in a different way. Because last year, after Germany, we were in a very particular situation. This year I would like to let Pecco start in a proper way and try to fight from the beginning, not have to face a big gap in front of us. But from my side, it's exactly the same, same way, same method, everything is exactly the same.

Q: Literally starting from zero?

CG: Yeah. Every season is a different season. This year especially with the sprint race. So we have to focus to obtain the maximum every weekend, as usual.

Q: Will sprint races change your job? Race data is the most valuable data, will sprint races make things easier, or just more stress?

CG: For sure more stress for everybody, riders first. Because if you have to face two races in the same weekend - it doesn't matter how many laps, but the mentality is a race mentality – for the rider it's more stressful. In our side, we have to change a lot the planning of the weekend, because we have to use anyway the first day, Friday, to go straight away into Q2. But in the same way, it looks like Friday afternoon is the only time and weather conditions in which you can understand for example which rear tire you can use in the normal race on Sunday.

Q: Because you used to do that in FP2 and FP4, now you just have FP2?

CG: Especially FP4, no? When you finished setting the bike, then you focus on the tire, especially on the tire. So we have less time to do all the work of the entire weekend. This is for sure to me the main change. I'm not scared about the sprint race itself. But not scared, but we have to focus how to prepared for a weekend, because of the sprint race.

Q: Because it changes everything and you have so much less time to understand what you are going to need on Sunday?

CG: Yes. If you think about Friday afternoon. If it starts raining five minutes before practice, it's gone, if the sprint race and Sunday race is dry. So you start more or less from zero. So for me, it's more important than usual to have a good base setting, to have a good base to work with, and not necessary to change the bike so much during the weekend. This will be a key point.

Q: Something Ducati did wrong last year was testing all the way to the first race, so you didn't have a base setting. Sprint races are going to make it even more important not to repeat this?

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Francesco Bagnaia
MotoGP
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Comments

Thank-you for the interview, David, very interesting.

I'm excited for the new season to start, but for some reason I'm not as super-excited as in previous years. I guess I have a niggling feeling that Bagnaia and Ducati are going to bulldoze 2023. So come on opponents, prove me wrong! Surprise me with a challenge I wasn't expecting and make it a vintage year. Or failing that, give us a story or two that no-one saw coming.

 

It's nice to have another super crew chief in the sport. Jerry Burgess won premier class titles as a crew chief with different riders at different manufacturers. It's always nice to see another crew chief emerge who is able to win with multiple riders at multiple manufacturers. 

The nugget of information provided by Gabarrini regarding accelerating on the edge of the tire as a means of lowering the center of gravity is something I had never considered before. Definitely helpful when trying to understand the long-low vs. short-high paradigm or balancing the spin/grip/wheelie situation referenced by Gabarrini. 

What Ducati have achieved is really quite amazing, but I can't fight the feeling that 80/20 has become 60/40. Technology is an intriguing aspect of the sport for fans to contemplate, but it feels like MotoGP is moving in the wrong direction, and is risking a lost decade, similar what has happens in F1 when they stop trying to reimagine or reinvent the game and they choose to embrace excess to assuage the temperament of a few manufacturers. 

Anyway, we'll see how 2023 plays out.

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(Big thanks to Ivanhoe who takes it from Sunday w a spreadsheet all season long. Bigger thanks of course to David Emmett and Co).

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Motoshrink: 1. Bagnaia 2. Bastiannini 3. Quartararo 4. M.Marquez 5. Martin I. Martin

SP_won. 1. Bagnaia 2. M.Marquez 3. Quartararo 4. Binder 5. Bastianini I. Martin

Faitbien: 1.Bagnaia. 2. Rins. 3. Quatararo. 4. Bastianini. 5. Mir. I. Bezzechi

oldholla: M.Marquez 2: Quatararo 3: Bagnaia 4: Binder 5: Vinales Ind: Martin

GSP: 1. M.Marquez 2. Bastianini 3. Bagnaia 4. Quatararo 5. Binder Ind: Rins

Krusty: 1. M.Marquez 2. Bagnaia 3. Quartararo 4. Bastianini 5. Miller I. Martin

Fineon - 1. M. Marquez 2. Quartararo 3. Bagnaia 4. Bastianini 5. Rins I. Martin

guy smiley 1. Bagnaia 2. M.Marquez 3. Quartararo 4. Bastianini 5. A.Espargaro I. Marini

Riesjart "#1 Plate": 1. M.Marquez 2. Quartararo 3. Bastianinni 4. Bagnaia 5. Mir Ind: Rins

Whooligan: 1. Bastianini 2. Bagnaia 3. M. Marquez 4. Quartararo 5. Martin I.R. Martin

D999: 1. M.Marquez 2. Pecco 3. Fabio 4. Enes 5. Miller I. A.Marquez

berndbuchwald: 1.M.Marquez 2. Bastianini 3. Quartararo 4. Rins 5. Binder I: Rins

Ibis117: 1. Bastiannini 2. Binder 3. Bagnaia 4. Quartararo 5. Morbidelli I. Oliveira

lotsofchops: 1. M.Marquez 2. Bagnaia 3. Quatararo 4. Bastianini 5. Binder IR. Bezzecchi

Onsight512: 1.Bastianini 2. Quartararo 3. Bagnaia 4. Rins 5. M.Marquez I. Rins

Kailasnath: 1. Quartararo 2. M. Marquez. 3. Bagnaia. 4. Oliveira. 5. A. Espargaro; IR. R.Fernandez

Poole Pirate: 1. M.Marquez 2. Quartararo 3. Bastianini 4. Bagnaia 5. Vinales IR. Martin

Lo: 1. M.Marquez 2. Quartararo 3. Bagnaia 4. A.Espagaro 5. Binder I. Rins

Brian: 1. M.Marquez 2. Bastiannini 3. Quartararo 4. Bagnaia 5. Binder I. Bezzechi

Ivanhoe:.1. Quartararo 2. Bastianini 3. Bagnaia 4. M. Marquez 5. Oliveira I. Oliveira

Cloverleaf: 1. Binder 2. Bagnaia 3. Martin 4. Quartararo 5. Vinales I. Oliveira

yud77: 1. Bagnaia  2. M. Marquez  3. Bezzecchi 4. Bastinini  5. Quartararo  I. A. Marquez

SATX_west: 1. Bagnia 2. Bastiannini 3. Martin 4. M.Marquez 5. Quartararo I. Martin

St Stephen: 1. Bagnaia 2. Marini 3. Quartararo 4. Oliveira 5. Binder. I A.Marquez

Spongedaddy: 1. Bagnaia 2. Quartararo 3. Bastiannini 4. M.Marquez 5. Vinales I. Marini

Iannis_z: 1. Quartararo 2. Bastianini 3. Bagnaia 4. A Espargaro 5. Marini I. Marini

Apical: 1. Bastianini 2. Bagnaia 3. M.Marquez 4. Binder 5. Quartararo i. Oliveira

Morgs: 1. Bastianini   2. Martin. 3. M Márquez 4. Bagnaia 5. Oliveira. I. Oliveira

Unclefz: 1. Bagnaia 2. Bastiannini 3. Martin 4. Quartararo 5. Oliveira I. Oliveira

JohnnyRev: 1. Martin 2. Bastiannini 3. Quartararo 4. Oliveira 5. A.Marquez I. Martin

DefTecDP: 1. Bagnaia 2. Bastianni 3. M.Marquez 4. A.Marquez 5. Quartararo. I. A.Marquez.

daddyrat: 1. Bagnaia 2. Quartararo 3. Bastiannini 4. M.Marquez 5. Vinales I. Martin

JINX: 1. Morbidelli 2. Nakagami 3. A.Fernandez 4. DiGiannantonio 5. Rossi I. Emmett 

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Morgs 1. Bastianini   2. Martin. 3. M Márquez 4. Bagnaia 5. Oliveira. I. A Márquez 

I’m foolishly assuming that Ducati won’t protect Peco and that the likes of Quartararo, Peco, and Vinales won’t cope with the sprint race intensity unless they are out in front.

Sometime late last year I decided to go early rather than wait until today. The Thursday before Portimão.

If I had waited until now I would have had Alex Marquez somewhere I think, no matter, or no MotoMatter perhaps.

My pick was, is and will be hanging around my neck as; Bastianini, Bagnaia, Marc Marquez, Brad Binder, Fabulous Quartararo, Indi Miguel Oliveira.

Sorry BB33 I picked you to avoid cursing Jack Miller at KTM. JackAssen could do well in the sprints.

Roll on Friday and Saturday's race!

We surely are privileged to peek inside this amazing man’s head. Such humility, that he prefaces his thoughts with “just my opinion” despite his being at the very top of the mountain:

 In my opinion – but this is just my opinion – they are two different problems. Because the difficulties to manage a new tire is a problem. No traction is another one. I don't want to make judgment about them, because for example in the wet, or in very low grip conditions, the KTM most probably are the best in traction. So managing a new tire needs a different point of view compared to needing more traction, in my opinion

Love the insight and attitude. We think of traction as one thing, like a light switch on or off, but he sees traction as a program of complex interactions. Unlocking “traction” is like the inside of a Swiss watch: you and I would open it up and gaze at it aghast, he would look at it for a while and go “I think I see the problem”. 

You get the impression he wants to be questioned, he wants to pull ideas apart, take the good bits, and rebuild the ideas better.

I often wondered about MM inheriting Gabarrini, both probably met each other at the perfect time. MM needed a Gabarrini to have his potential fully realised  and Gabarrini was in a unique position post-Stoner to  understand his potential. Sliding doors that were perfectly timed.

Thanks David, for the unique experince

Didn't see link yet, so my shot here: 1. Bagnaia, 2. Bastianni, 3. M Marquez, 4. A Marquez, 5. Quartararo. I- A Marquez.

 

 

 

Sorry to be thick, but what is meant by "weaving"?

As in: 

Q: So the weaving is to keep the front down?

CG: To keep the center of gravity lower.

Is it body positioning, or bike positioning, or...?

They take a line where they exit still turning. They continue across the now straight piece of road and then reverse the turn to avoid hitting the pit wall. They need traction so it's not much lean angle. It's a balance, more lean = less wheelie but more lean also = less traction in general.