Why Ducati insiders now think Francesco Bagnaia is ‘no match’ for Marc Marquez this season, ‘massive differences…’

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Francesco Bagnaia has fallen even further away from Marc Marquez in the 2025 MotoGP title battle after the Spaniard’s ninth win at Sachsenring.

The Italian suffered a disaster in qualifying as he could only manage 11th, before finishing a miserable 12th in the Sprint. Bagnaia recovered well to finish on the podium in Sunday’s race, but his P3 was fortuitous given the multitude of crashes that happened in front of him.

With Marquez’s latest win for Ducati, his teammate is now a huge 147 points behind at the halfway point of the season. Bagnaia has only beaten the Spaniard twice all year in Austin and Jerez, courtesy of Marquez crashing.

It has not been a bad season for the 28-year-old by any means – it is arguably his most consistent start to a MotoGP season – but his issue is having Marquez as his teammate. He has not had the competitive edge over his Ducati teammate in 2025, but it is not as if he has not been trying.

Ducati have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to help Bagnaia improve his feeling on the GP25, including adding new brake discs. He has improved in recent races, as Bagnaia has stopped complaining about the bike, but he is still miles behind Marquez.

Ducati insiders say Francesco Bagnaia is ‘two or three small steps’ away from Marc Marquez, but he’s ‘no match’ for him

Journalist Gavin Emmett spoke to one of Bagnaia’s team members about how close he is to catching his teammate. Speaking via the Paddock Pass Podcast, the Italian’s garage say he is ‘two or three’ steps away from his teammate, but he faces a huge task when he has ‘everything’ back.

He said: “I had a quick chat with someone in his team earlier this week and they said: ‘Yeah, we’re not that far off. We just need two or three more small steps’.

“And they have made small steps. He is looking much better. He’s looking much more comfortable than he was at the start of the season.

“He’s not looking just absolutely despairing, but he is just no match for Marc Marquez. And even if he gets his mojo back, even if he gets everything back, then he has the problem of trying to take on Marc Marquez on this bike.

“He’s such a sensitive rider that these small details can make massive, massive differences. So, they’re searching around for that one detail.”

READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number

Could leaving Ducati be the only option for Francesco Bagnaia to beat Marc Marquez?

Marquez has adapted seamlessly to the GP25 since stepping up from the GP23 last season. The Spaniard has been utterly dominant in 2025, with mistakes being his only undoing this year.

Davide Tardozzi says Ducati ‘don’t know’ why Bagnaia struggled at the German GP. The team are not giving up on the Italian as they look to help him improve his results, but he may be fighting a losing battle.

Fighting Marquez on equal machinery, as history has shown, is an impossible task, with Bagnaia now the latest to struggle against him. There were even suggestions that the 28-year-old could leave Ducati and seek pastures new.

Bagnaia was linked with a shock move to Yamaha, with a switch to a new manufacturer possibly being his only answer to beating Marquez. Neil Hodgson says there’s ‘no point’ in Bagnaia staying at Ducati, as he will not get the better of his teammate on the same bike.