Franco Morbidelli reveals his ‘biggest disappointment’ since Marc Marquez joined Ducati

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Marc Marquez has been dominant in his first season with the factory Ducati team after his arrival ahead of the 2025 MotoGP season, but Franco Morbidelli is disappointed at one aspect of the move which hasn’t materialised yet.

Marquez has been on a record-setting pace with Ducati this season, taking 21 victories out of a possible 26 races across all Sprints and Grands Prix with the Borgo Panigale outfit.

However, on the other side of the Ducati garage, it’s been a different story. Bagnaia has won just one race this season, a far cry from the 11 Grand Prix feats he produced last year alongside seven chequered flags in the Sprint format.

Following complaints from the factory Ducati rider about the 2025 engine, Morbidelli debunked Bagnaia’s claims of feeling less comfortable with it, with several other riders agreeing that the new power unit was a step in the right direction.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Franco Morbidelli from net worth to career stats

Franco Morbidelli has been disappointed at the lack of a battle between Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez

Speaking to moto.it ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, Morbidelli didn’t hold back when discussing how Bagnaia’s season is still considered a failure, even with him sitting in third place in the championship, due to the sheer dominance of his Ducati teammate.

“Surely what was expected from Pecco and from the battle between Marc and Pecco was a different narrative, and that has probably been the biggest disappointment this year,” Morbidelli exclaimed.

“The fight between Marc and Pecco that everyone expected simply didn’t happen. That’s why at times people talk about a crisis, even if Pecco finishes third, fourth, seventh, or eighth – results that are still within the top 10 in MotoGP, which is incredible – but they still didn’t meet expectations.”

Bagnaia has only managed to beat Marquez on track once this season, at the championship leader’s home Grand Prix in Jerez. Adding to that, the two-time world champion’s only victory this season came in Austin, where he benefitted from Marquez crashing out whilst leading the race.

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

Francesco Bagnaia and Ducati are running out of patience with each other

After a dismal showing at the Austrian Grand Prix race weekend, which saw him retire from the Sprint and come home in eighth in Sunday’s Grand Prix, Bagnaia was furious with his Ducati team.

Bagnaia fumed that he was ‘running out of patience’, demanding an explanation from his engineers for the reason why he has struggled so much during the current campaign.

The feeling is mutual, as the relationship between Bagnaia and Ducati is reaching a ‘point of no return’. The Italian rider is waiting for the Italian constructor to help him by bringing upgrades to the GP25 since the start of the season in a bid to improve his confidence under braking on the bike.

Bagnaia may be in danger of losing his factory ride at Ducati, with one former team boss suggesting that the Italian outfit could easily replace him with a rider who has impressed in a satellite team on older machinery this season, namely Fermin Aldeguer.