Unseen MotoGP footage shows what Luigi Dall’Igna said to Francesco Bagnaia after Thailand Grand Prix

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Francesco Bagnaia was understandably frustrated after the season-opening Thailand Grand Prix. He ran close to the top two throughout the race, but had to settle for third.

Marc Marquez was the quickest Ducati rider all weekend and outpaced his teammate by just under two-tenths in qualifying. Pol Espargaro was concerned that Alex Marquez beat Bagnaia too.

The top three held station in the Sprint, but the older Marquez brother had to give up the lead during Sunday’s Grand Prix. That was because the tyre pressures on his Desmosedici GP25 dropped outside the legal window.

With Marquez Sr sitting close behind his sibling, Bagnaia tried to pounce. But the temperatures weren’t conducive to a sustained attack.

Bagnaia said he had to ‘give up’ every time he got within half a second. In a sense, this was more painful than watching his teammate cruise off into the distance – he was tantalisingly close.

The Italian has become accustomed to being the no. 1 rider. But Ducati engineers are already gravitating towards Marquez after the six-time MotoGP champion made an ominous start.

Luigi Dall’Igna told Francesco Bagnaia to ‘remember last year’ after Thailand Grand Prix

MotoGP’s official channel shared a video on Friday featuring ‘unseen’ footage from the Thailand Grand Prix weekend. It features a clip of Bagnaia speaking to Davide Tardozzi and Luigi Dall’Igna outside the garage after the race.

Tardozzi assured his visibly disappointed rider that a podium finish is always a good result. And Dall’Igna pointed out that it was an effective damage limitation exercise in the context of the championship.

Bagnaia spent his honeymoon ruing the mistakes he made during the 2024 season. He won 11 races to Jorge Martin’s three but after a series of falls, he still finished runner-up.

“We start the season on the podium,” Tardozzi said. “You’re not happy, but it’s okay. When you are on the podium, it means that you’ve done something good.”

“Remember last year,” Dall’Igna added. “It’s important.”

“It’s important to finish,” acknowledged Bagnaia. “But now I want to understand what happened.”

He then had to watch on as a triumphant Marquez returned and celebrated with his new team. Scenes like this may give him extra motivation ahead of the next race in Argentina.

The truth about Luigi Dall’Igna’s controversial Marc Marquez bike kiss in Thailand

Bagnaia tried to leave the press conference early after Sunday’s race. He grew impatient as virtually all of the questions were directed to the Marquez brothers.

He was clearly eager to establish the reason for the gap. Many had labelled him the underdog before the weekend after Marquez’s formidable performance in testing.

After the race, Dall’Igna shocked fans by kissing Marquez’s bike. This was picked up by the world feed cameras.

However, eyewitnesses say that he subsequently kissed the Gresini motorcycle, as well as Bagnaia’s Ducati. This was a celebration of the manufacturer’s dominance, rather than preferential treatment for his new signing.