Marco Bezzecchi
As the Thailand Grand Prix comes to a close, it is Marc Marquez who has the advantage in the Ducati battle with Francesco Bagnaia.
The Spaniard asserted his dominance as early as pre-season at the Bologna-based team. Marquez blitzed the field in Buriram testing while Bagnaia faced some issues with the ‘GP24.9’.
At the Thailand Grand Prix, the two-time MotoGP champion missed out on Q2 while his teammate set the pace. Bagnaia was impeded by Franco Morbidelli on his final flying lap, leaving him to go through Q1.
Bagnaia fumed at the race officials for an unnecessary yellow flag earlier in the session. The 28-year-old’s time was deleted, which would have seen him finish P9 – sending him to Q2 – instead of P13.
Bagnaia fought back in the Sprint to finish third behind the Marquez brothers, with Marc taking victory. The top three would remain the same in the Grand Prix as the Italian had little to no answer for his teammate and the Gresini of Alex Marquez.
Sylvain Guintoli sees Qatar as Francesco Bagnaia’s ‘first chance’ to beat Marc Marquez
With Marquez taking maximum points in Thailand, Bagnaia faces a difficult start to the 2025 season. As Sylvain Guintoli put it on TNT Sports 2 after the race, the next two events in Argentina and Austin are strong tracks for the six-time MotoGP champion.
Guintoli sees Qatar as the ‘first chance’ for Bagnaia to ‘really’ beat Marquez. This could be damaging to the Italian’s title chances if he cannot find a cutting edge sooner.
“Well, actually Marc wasn’t playing, he was doing what he had to do and for Pecco it’s been a difficult winter testing time and coming in here, kind of knowing really that Marc was faster than him, around here anyway,” he said.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
“At the start of the season, you want to assert your domination on your teammate and Marc has just done that, Pecco knows it. He’s got a lot of homework to do.
“It’s not Pecco’s track though so there’ll be other tracks where Pecco will be more much stronger. But you’ve got to think, start of the season, Argentina, America, Austin, Marc is really, really strong there.
“So probably the first chance for Pecco to really beat him will be maybe Qatar. So it’s going to be a tough start to the season when Pecco’s going to have to be patient, try and get faster, try and learn from his faster teammate at the moment.”
Francesco Bagnaia must not lull over mistakes in 2025
Ducati boss Davide Tardozzi called out the Italian for being too much of a ‘gentleman’. Bagnaia refuted Tardozzi’s comments, claiming he would not change his approach.
But after seeing Marquez command the field in Thailand, Bagnaia will have to find the extra gear to get the upper hand at Ducati.
The Italian won 11 out of 20 races last season – eight more than any other rider. But costly errors with starts and three retirements saw him lose the title to Jorge Martin by 10 points.
Bagnaia thought about his mistakes on his honeymoon – this is something he cannot afford to repeat with Marquez on the other side of the garage.
Bagnaia is afraid he will not find Marquez’s ‘secret’ at Ducati in the left turns. His teammate has the clear advantage at this stage and it may take time for Bagnaia to get one up on Marquez.
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