Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia is working to find improvements at Ducati at the Grand Prix of France. The Italian is being dominated by his teammate Marc Marquez in 2025.
The two-time MotoGP champion was dethroned by Jorge Martin in 2024, despite winning 11 out of 20 races. Bagnaia says the defeat will take ‘years to digest’, with several mistakes costing him over the year.
It seems that it is still playing on his mind in 2025. Thus far, Bagnaia has not been near the level of Marquez, despite enjoying his best start to a season.
The Spaniard has claimed eight wins out of 10 races, with pole position in the opening four events. Meanwhile, Bagnaia has been struggling with one-lap pace in qualifying and making progress in the Sprint and main race.
Ahead of the French Grand Prix, the 28-year-old is 20 points behind championship leader Alex Marquez, who is on the year-old GP24. Bagnaia is struggling to adapt to the new Ducati, while his teammate is flourishing.
Neil Hodgson loves Francesco Bagnaia’s line on Marc Marquez’s crashes at the French Grand Prix
Despite showing dominance in 2025, Marc Marquez is a point off leading the standings. The 32-year-old has been undone by two costly crashes in Austin and Jerez.
His teammate inherited the lead in Austin after he fell at turn four in the wet conditions. Bagnaia suspected Marquez would crash, having done the same the year prior.
Bagnaia inadvertently caused Marquez’s crash at Jerez by pushing him aggressively for position. But it is clear that at the moment, the only rider that can beat Marquez is himself.
His teammate has been struggling to adapt to the GP25, but his difficulties prompted a great line on Marquez’s crashes. Speaking on TNT Sports 2 (10/5, 9:15am) during FP2 at Le Mans, Hodgson loved Bagnaia’s reasoning for the Spaniard’s accidents.
The 28-year-old claims his teammate ‘feels too comfortable’ on the bike and thus feels ‘he can do whatever he likes’.
“I’ll tell you what did make me smile though. He said three times: ‘Marc’s blamed the bike for being too good for his previous crashes’. I love the line,” said Hodgson.
“He said: ‘He crashed because he feels too comfortable on this bike, believing he can do whatever he likes with it, and then, you’re down. It’s interesting.”
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Neil Hodgson disheartened by Francesco Bagnaia’s statement at the French Grand Prix
While Marquez is making mistakes, he has proven to be the top rider in 2025 and has greater feeling on the GP25 than Bagnaia.
Marquez is rumoured to be running the new chassis at Le Mans over his teammate. Bagnaia is desperately struggling to find feeling on the bike, openly admitting that he has to change his riding style to find performance.
Hodgson and Gavin Emmett discussed his ‘telling interview’ during FP2. The former was left disheartened as the Italian appeared ‘very negative’, even if he tried to put on a brave face.
Emmett said: “There was a telling interview he did, basically: ‘I’m resigned to the fact that I’m not going to get the feeling that I want out of this bike so I’m going to have to change it.
“But he said it more than once. He said it two, three, four times. ‘I’m not going to get the feeling that I want.”
“It wasn’t good to listen to, he sounded very negative to be honest,” added Hodgson.
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