Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia staged a solid recovery during the Catalan Grand Prix but will have left the track frustrated at yet another missed opportunity.
On a day when his teammate failed to win for the first time in nearly four months, the Ducati rider was still multiple places behind.
As Pedro Acosta and Marco Bezzecchi continue to show threatening pace, a top-three finish in the MotoGP standings is far from assured for Bagnaia.
Gaining 14 places during the Catalan Grand Prix might have left him smiling, but he still hasn’t delivered to the full potential of the GP25.
Bagnaia has shown where he has vastly improved by not forcing himself into mistakes this season, as he might have in 2024.
However, despite Bagnaia ‘never’ lacking Ducati support, he just hasn’t been able to compete for victory as frequently as a two-time champion would like to.
Francesco Bagnaia warned of Ducati ‘disaster’ after promising Catalan Grand Prix improvements
According to Marc Marquez, the media are contributing to Bagnaia’s woes by placing him under scrutiny this season.
The 28-year-old will be hoping that any adjustments to his bike over the winter start to lean the bike in his direction again.
After claiming to have made progress, Peter Bom isn’t buying Bagnaia’s story just yet, after his impressive Sunday display at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
“Pecco is not in a better place, he’s even in a worse place than last week,” he said. “I would not say he’s trying to come back. Last week’s race in Hungary was a full disaster.
“He was talking to us, saying, ‘I found something in the race, I couldn’t do it, really show it with the result, but I had a better feeling and had some better lap times.’ You could say the same today.
“‘I had some reasonable lap times, I made a couple of places, so probably I found something.’ I don’t think he found anything, I think races are just always slower than anything else over the weekend.”
What people in the paddock think Francesco Bagnaia could have achieved on the GP24 in 2025
As a result of MotoGP’s homologation rules, Bagnaia couldn’t simply revert to his 2024 specification of bike. The GP24 was out of question.
People in the paddock think Bagnaia would be second if he were permitted to ride on last year’s machine, which he won 11 races with.
His problems this season have mainly been with a lack of confidence in the front of his bike under braking, which has cost him valuable lap time at circuits with heavy braking zones.
If he’s going to beat Marquez in the form that he’s in, he was always going to need to be near his maximum, which he hasn’t been close enough to. 2026 could be judgement year for Bagnaia’s future with Ducati.
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