Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia has endured a difficult start to 2025 compared to his Ducati teammate Marc Marquez. His struggles have continued at the Argentina Grand Prix.
The Italian could not challenge Marquez at the Thailand Grand Prix as the Spaniard took pole position and the Sprint and main race win. Bagnaia did well to qualify and finish third after he missed out on Q2.
However, he offered little competition to his teammate or brother Alex Marquez. Bagnaia was ‘perplexed’ by Marc Marquez’s strategy as he could have won by a bigger margin if not for a tyre pressure issue.
The 28-year-old is already 14 points behind his teammate heading into the Argentina Grand Prix. After just one race, Ducati engineers are already swaying towards Marquez – Bagnaia will look to get back on top.
However, he faces a tough challenge in Argentina – Marquez has won three times at Termas de Rio Hondo over the years.
Everyone in the paddock thinks Marquez will win again in Argentina after his dominance in Thailand. It seems that expectation is becoming reality after the Spanaird topped the timesheets in free practice.
Mat Oxley has ‘never seen’ Francesco Bagnaia’s crew chief look so ‘nonplussed’ after practice at the Argentina GP
Marquez broke the lap record at Termas de Rio Hondo with a time of 1:37:295 – the Ducati rider had held the record since 2014 from his time at Honda.
Marco Bezzecchi had initially broken the record with a 1:37:510 – Marquez was left ‘wide-eyed’ by the Aprilia rider’s feat. The 32-year-old, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez all went on to beat the time.
Bagnaia has looked to take Pol Espargaro’s advice of being quick against Marquez from the off. However, the two-time MotoGP champion has been far from his teammate’s pace.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
The Italian was 16th in FP1 as Marquez went fastest. In free practice, Bagnaia narrowly scraped through to Q2 in 10th, almost six tenths off the pace of his teammate.
Marquez’s dominance at Ducati has left Bagnaia’s side of the garage stunning. Writing on X (formerly Twitter), Mat Oxley noted the 28-year-old’s crew chief Cristian Gabarrini was ‘nonplussed’ after the session – something he had ‘never seen’ before.
He wrote: “Never seen Gabarrini look so nonplussed.”
Chris Walker has a theory about Francesco Bagnaia’s struggles against Marc Marquez
Bagnaia spent his honeymoon ruing over his mistakes that cost him the title in 2024 to Jorge Martin. The 28-year-old is gunning for his third MotoGP crown but Marquez seems to have got the better of him so far.
Bagnaia has stressed he will play fair with his teammate in 2025, seeking to be the ‘gentleman’ that Luigi Dall’Igna had criticised him for.
But the Italian will have to find a competitive edge sooner rather than later. MotoGP fans flocked to Marquez’s area in the paddock in Argentina – certainly a disheartening sight for Bagnaia.
Chris Walker thinks Bagnaia is suffering without Martin on the track. The Spaniard is not there for the Ducati rider to ‘copy his homework’ – as the 2024 champion has accused him of.
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