Enea Bastianini “too aggressive”, podium possible ‘without the mistakes”

Double Silverstone winner Enea Bastianini had to fight from ninth place after a costly mistake on the opening lap of the Austrian MotoGP Sprint.

The factory Ducati rider felt he could have stood on the podium had he not been 'too aggressive' on the opening lap, while trying to hastily recover from seventh on the grid.

Bastianini was challenging for fourth when he ran wide at the Turn 2 chicane, dropping him to the tail end of the top ten.

The Italian was still only seventh with 4 laps to go but a typical late race charge saw him catch and pass Jack Miller for fourth, finishing just two-seconds from Aleix Espargaro and the final podium place.

“My approach today has been too much aggressive, especially in the first lap,” Bastianini confessed. 

“I was nervous because I was starting a little bit behind and tried to push from the start. I committed a mistake at Turn 2, went [wide] and was in ninth position.

“But after that my race has been not bad, more than my expectation, because my feeling was much better than yesterday and also this morning.

“I've suffered a lot with the front tyre, but this fourth place is good. I was really close to Aleix to try to go on the podium - without the mistakes it was possible!”

Bastianini, renowned for saving his tyres, was lapping half a second quicker than Espargaro in the closing laps and matching race leaders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.

Marc Marquez’s crash means Bastianini is now 19 points clear of the Gresini rider for third in the world championship, but has slipped 52 from team-mate Bagnaia.