Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia has taken a beating since Marc Marquez joined him at Ducati this season, which has sparked suggestions that the Italian might look to leave the team.
The 28-year-old remains insistent that he will honour the contract he has with Ducati for the 2026 season. But Bagnaia is facing questions about his future in Borgo Panigale, as the Turin native is already 147 points behind Marquez in the riders’ standings after the first 11 rounds.
Even Gresini’s Alex Marquez on last year’s Ducati GP24 has outscored Bagnaia by 64 points, and he also finished in front of the two-time world champion in last Sunday’s German Grand Prix with a broken metacarpal in his left hand. Bagnaia never looked able to fight him, either.
Such has been the 2022 and 2023 champion’s woe this season that Ducati no longer believe Bagnaia is a match for Marc Marquez, as well. While the 32-year-old won at the Sachsenring for his seventh Grand Prix win this term, Bagnaia took his sole win so far at the Americas GP.
Giacomo Agostini tells Ducati to look at replacing Francesco Bagnaia with Fermin Aldeguer or Marco Bezzecchi
Bagnaia even saw Marquez register his seventh pole position of the 2025 MotoGP season at the German GP, where his teammate also secured his 10th Sprint win. Bagnaia has only won 11 Sprint Races in his career since MotoGP introduced the abbreviated format back in 2023.
So, it is possible that Bagnaia might look to leave Ducati, despite his opposition to breaking a contract early. And Giacomo Agostini has told Ducati to consider promoting Fermin Aldeguer from Gresini or try to poach Marco Bezzecchi from Aprilia if Bagnaia were to leave the team.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Agostini said on BOBB TV: “Of course, you have to find an opponent, but a very strong one. There’s also the other Spaniard who races for the Gresini team, Aldeguer, who is also very strong. There’s Bezzecchi, who’s strong in short, and let’s not forget in the wet.
“I don’t know if there are rumours that he would like to change. So, if the place becomes available, naturally Ducati will look for another one of those good ones because all the teams want to have two great riders.”
Pecco Bagnaia will ‘lose, lose, lose, lose’ with the lap time he drops to Marc Marquez
Aldeguer is already a factory-contracted Ducati rider, having signed a two-year deal with the Bologna Bullets to debut in MotoGP this season before being placed at Gresini. VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio also has a works contract with Ducati through the 2026 MotoGP campaign.
Ducati have seen their show of faith in the 20-year-old’s potential so far yield one podium in 11 rounds, after Aldeguer secured his best MotoGP finish so far with P3 in the French Grand Prix. The Spaniard also ranks ninth in the standings with 92 points as the lowest Ducati rider.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Fermin Aldeguer with his rise to MotoGP and height
On the other hand, Ducati would need to hope that Bezzecchi can break out of his contract with Aprilia if they were to target the 26-year-old. The Italian signed a two-year deal to join the Noale factory, and Aprilia have now successfully got Jorge Martin to end his bid to leave.
But it may be worth the Borgo Panigale brand’s time to consider potential replacements, as Neil Hodgson thinks there is ‘no point’ in Bagnaia staying at Ducati. It is unlikely that he can turn the tables around after losing so heavily to Marquez in a team that was his clear home.
Agostini has even seen one clear sign to spark alarm as Bagnaia, who is Yamaha’s forbidden dream signing, will continue to lose to Marquez unless the 30-time premier class Grand Prix winner can overturn the time he loses in every lap to the now 69-time MotoGP race winner.
He added: “Obviously, Bagnaia knows this very well. He’s not stupid, he knows that Marquez is great. Bagnaia also won, he was world champion. This year, Marquez is in top form, he’s got grit, he wants to win at all costs [and] he wants to prove that he’s still himself.
“And then Bagnaia maybe has a bit of a morale problem now, not even if they are small difficulties. But, today, you see that he’s two to three tenths per lap [slower], which is enough to lose, lose, lose, lose. So, it doesn’t take much.”
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