Enea Bastianini took a third place in the Austrian MotoGP, something he confessed to being happy about♛, despite clearly lacking pace compared to Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.

Bast💦ianini started seventh, but was third by the end of the first sector on lap one. After his tyre saving exce🍒llence in Silverstone, it was expected that such a strong starting position would put Bastianini in the perfect place to take advantage of his late race pace in the closing stages of the Red Bull Ring encounter.

However, tha🔜t’s not how it turned out, and Bastianini finished seven seconds behind his victorious teammate, Bagnaia.

Bastianini explained why the stop-start Red Bull Ring layou🍒t didn’t allow him to exploit his late race strength a🐬s he did in the more flowing Silverstone.

“This time, this moment didn’t arrive,” Bast🦂ianini said in the post-race press conferenc, “because this track is not like the usual tracks. It’s strange because we have to brake many times, and also a lot of brakin🔜g straight.

“When you have to do one acceleration, you spin like the other riders, 𓃲you can’t do anything to save a bit the tyre. I was only happy to be on the third place today.”

Bastianini had missed pace all weekend comparౠed to Bagnaia and Martin, hence his seventh-place qualifying. As a result, his third place is seen by him as a positive.

“At th𒉰e end, we have saved a bit the weekend because I have suffered a lot from Friday, a lot w⭕ith the front, especially on entry,” he said. “Today for the race it was a bit better, also the start was not bad, I was in third place after the first corner. This has helped me a bit for the race.

“After [the start] my pace was not like Pecco and Jorge today, but after this difficult condition in that Grand Prix, we🐓 can be happy.”

Having been able to compe🐬te with Bagnaia and Martin in Silverstone, and indeed beat them, why was he so far away from them in Austria? What were Bagnaia and Mar🔯tin doing better than him?

“I think it’s difওficult to say this, because these two riders are so different, their riding styles are so differ﷽ent,” Bastianini said.

“Pecco, sometimes has an incredible braking point, sometimes he can brake much later🧸 than the other riders of Ducati.

“Jorge is incredible sometimes in the middle of the corner, he has a lot of speed and sometimes with less angle, it𝔍’s strange.

“I think sometimes I have a mix of this and I can♑ fight with these two riders, but som𝕴etimes I have suffered, like today, and I’m a bit behind.”