Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia will go head-to-head at Ducati this season. It could well be an intra-team battle for the MotoGP world championship.
The question then, is whether Luigi Dall’Igna can manage the tension in the garage. The two riders don’t have to be friends, but they do have to work in the interests of the team.
Last year, Bagnaia fought with Pramac rider Jorge Martin for top honours. They were racing with current-spec Desmosedici GP24 bikes, while Marquez was a year behind at Gresini.
Marquez was still a factor in the title race, even if he wasn’t a direct competitor. He won three Grands Prix and one Sprint, standing on the podium 10 times.
Bagnaia only lost out to Marquez by 10 points, and he lost at least 11 when he crashed with Marquez at the Grand Prix of Portugal, the second race of the season. They came together on lap 23 out of 25.
Marquez executed an overtake down the inside, but made contact with Bagnaia as the latter tried to repass. The former finished 16th after he got back going again, while the latter retired.
The full transcript as Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia debate Grand Prix of Portugal clash
The stewards didn’t hand out a penalty for the incident, which Bagnaia felt was fair. Their conversation outside the stewards’ room features in episode one of ‘There Can Be Only One’, the official documentary recapping the 2024 season.
Marquez accused Bagnaia of a reckless manoeuvre, but the factory rider countered that he deserved more space. The tension between the two was clear, even if they remained outwardly respectful and shook hands afterwards.
For Marquez, the biggest frustration was the lost points. But given that he finished 116 points off the pace in the end, it was more significant for Bagnaia.
You can read the full transcript below.
Marquez: “At any point, you know that if you open the throttle, the contact will come, and the one on the outside crashes.
Bagnaia: “It depends. It depends on how the rider on the outside reacts. Maybe in your head you would have done it that way. Now we look at the data. We have the data, we all have it. Marc when you go wide, you know perfectly well, there’s another rider on the inside. You know that.
Marquez: “So it’s my fault? I didn’t close the line.”
Bagnaia: “It’s neither your fault nor mine.”
Marquez: “This is the problem, it’s not your fault or mine, but we both crashed.”
The role Valentino Rossi could play in Francesco Bagnaia’s rivalry with Marc Marquez
Speaking in a joint interview with Marquez as part of Ducati’s 2025 launch, Bagnaia rued the accident. “With 11 points I would have won the title, he said.”
Bagnaia thought about his 2024 mistakes on his honeymoon, but this wasn’t necessarily one of them. He made unforced errors elsewhere that gave Martin the advantage.
The 28-year-old has expressed little interest in playing mind games, but he doesn’t have to do so directly. There’s long-term hostility between Valentino Rossi, his close confidante, and his new teammate.
If requested, Rossi will enlist his ‘press allies’ against Marquez. That could be just one theatre of a gripping war at Ducati in 2025.
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