Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia fought for the MotoGP riders’ titles each year since 2021 and won the championship twice, but he now needs a miracle to deny Marc Marquez in 2025.
A whopping 168 points already split Marquez and Bagnaia in the standings with 10 of the 22 rounds set to be held during the 2025 MotoGP season still to come. Bagnaia has also seen Marquez win eight Grands Prix and 11 Sprint Races since he joined him in the Ducati garage.
Bagnaia has still won just one Grand Prix so far this year and has not finished higher than P3 in a Sprint. The 28-year-old also trails Alex Marquez of Gresini by 48 points for second in the standings. Marc’s younger brother is a one-time Grand Prix and one-time Sprint winner, too.
Marc Marquez is the ‘only reason’ why Ducati homologated their GP25 2025 MotoGP bike
Alex Marquez has made full use of racing last year’s Ducati Desmosedici GP24 to emerge as Marc Marquez’s biggest rival, albeit 120 points behind. Bagnaia has continually struggled to adapt to the Ducati GP25 that he, Marc and VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio are using in 2025.
Bagnaia has long claimed that the Ducati GP25 does not suit his riding style and has denied the 2022 and 2023 champion from fighting Marquez, as the 32-year-old dominates en route to possibly his seventh crown. The Italian may even have the Spaniard to thank for his woes.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend
Were it not for Marquez finding speed with the GP25 in testing, then Simon Patterson thinks Ducati would not have homologated the GP25 and kept the GP24. Bagnaia won 11 of the 20 Grands Prix and seven Sprints in 2024, as Jorge Martin beat him to the title by just 10 points.
Patterson told The Race MotoGP Podcast: “I don’t think it’s a given that Jorge Martin would be leading the championship if Marc didn’t go to Ducati. Because I think if Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia both discovered the same problems with the GP25, the GP25 never exists.
“The only reason the GP25 exists is because Marc was quicker on it than Pecco, and Pecco thought he had to give it a chance to find it. So, I think without Marc there, they just raced the GP24, and Pecco was as competitive as Martin again.”
Pecco Bagnaia doubts he will fix his braking problem that leaves him ‘vulnerable’
Ducati rejected Martin to promote Marquez from Gresini to partner with Bagnaia in place of Enea Bastianini in the 2025 MotoGP season. Martin believed he was the favourite to join the Bologna Bullets’ works line-up, yet he missed out before winning the 2024 title with Pramac.
Marquez then finding speed with the GP25 put Bagnaia on a crash course for catastrophe in comparison to fighting for the title every year between 2021 and 2024. Ducati changing the front fork was a huge problem for Bagnaia, who struggled to find the same feeling this year.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
The GP25 has presented the Turin native with a wealth of problems, which has seen Bagnaia concede he cannot attack with Ducati’s 2025 bike like Marquez can. Ducati’s bike does not allow the 28-year-old what he needs to feel comfortable asking for more from the front tyre.
Now, while Bagnaia gained some confidence by using a larger front brake disc at Aragon, the Italian is still having to look for ways to adapt to the Ducati GP25. In particular, despite what he found at Aragon, Bagnaia is desperate to improve his braking as he still feels ‘vulnerable’.
Bagnaia said after finishing the Czech Grand Prix in P4 before the summer break, via quotes by AS: “I’ve always based my performance on braking, and now that’s where I’m vulnerable compared to the others.
“Last year, I could brake much harder. And now, from the moment I approach braking, I’m in trouble. I don’t think we’ll improve this braking problem this year. Maybe I should try to improve other aspects of my riding.”
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