Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia got back to winning ways at the Americas Grand Prix. The Italian benefitted from his teammate Marc Marquez’s first major mistake of 2025.
The Spaniard had dominated the start of the MotoGP season with a clean sweep in Thailand and Argentina. Marquez looked set to do the same in Austin after pole position and the Sprint win.
Bagnaia had been having a challenging start to the season before the Grand Prix of the Americas. The two-time champion had not finished higher than third in the first five races of 2025, finishing behind his Ducati teammate and Alex Marquez in four of them.
He finished off the podium in Argentina with Franco Morbidelli beating him to third. Bagnaia was ‘angry’ at Ducati behind the scenes heading into round three in the US.
Qualifying sixth on the grid, Bagnaia put Marquez under much more pressure than in the previous events – and it sent the latter into a race-ending crash.
The 32-year-old lost his GP25 at turn four on lap nine by getting too high on the wet curb. Bagnaia inherited the lead and cruised to his first win of 2025.
Francesco Bagnaia ‘had a premonition’ he would win the Americas Grand Prix
Marquez did the same thing in 2024 with Gresini, crashing out of the lead and handing victory to Maverick Vinales. The Spanaird was ‘pessimistic’ before the race as he knew he could crash again in 2025.
Speaking on The Race MotoGP Podcast, journalist Simon Patterson bumped into Bagnaia after the race. The Italian told him he ‘had a premonition’ he would win the Americas Grand Prix, privately suspecting Marquez would repeat his 2024 mistake.
“He said in the press conference on Thursday: ‘I have to be pessimistic because I’ve crashed out of the lead here before’. And then brought it up again and again.
“So, it was in his head and after we did all the media and everything, I bumped into Pecco in the paddock on Sunday night, tonight, just a couple hours ago.
“And he was like: ‘I had a premonition this morning that I was going to win today’. And kind of jokingly admitted: ‘I know a thing or two about crashing out of the race lead.’
“So he wasn’t doing to like fire shots or anything like that. There was a real sense that: ‘Yeah, Marc could do this.”
MotoGP key figures notice a change in Francesco Bagnaia after difficult start to the 2025 season
Despite the factory Ducati team winning every race in 2025 thus far, neither Marquez nor Bagnaia lead the championship.
Gresini’s Alex Marquez has maintained incredible consistency, finishing second in every race. The Spaniard leads brother Marc by one point, with Bagnaia back in the picture after his win in Austin.
The Italian is 12 points behind the leader heading into Qatar – a track that suits him. He will head into round four with confidence after beating his teammate on a circuit that has not been his strongest.
Michael Laverty noticed a change in Bagnaia’s attitude as he was right on his teammate from the off. The 28-year-old had been frustrated with his start to the year, as well as his team.
Ducati have been pushing the Italian to start weekends stronger to fight Marquez. Davide Tardozzi says Bagnaia found ‘confidence’ in Austin – he will need to carry that if he wants to grab a third title.
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