Ducati footage shows the sage advice Marc Marquez has given Francesco Bagnaia before Misano

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Francesco Bagnaia has finished on the podium in each of the last five San Marino Grand Prix. But recent form suggests that streak is unlikely to continue.

Bagnaia’s Sunday results since the summer break read eighth, ninth, seventh. He’s suffered back-to-back Q1 exits in the last two races, including his worst qualifying for three years in Barcelona.

While the Italian has managed to gain significant ground in the races, he’s still losing out to riders Ducati would expect him to beat. Teammate Marc Marquez, who has won 15 of the last 16 events overall, is now 250 points ahead.

Bagnaia is 76 clear of Fabio di Giannantonio, the only other rider on a Ducati GP25. He believes last year’s bike was superior, which is why he’s behind Alex Marquez, but Marc’s stratospheric performances have stopped that narrative taking hold within the team.

Marc Marquez tells Francesco Bagnaia to ‘reset’ before the San Marino Grand Prix

Ducati have released behind-the-scenes footage from the Catalan GP weekend as part of their ‘Inside’ series. The episode includes a conversation between Marquez and Bagnaia in the back of a car.

A strikingly open Bagnaia tells Marquez that he’s ‘losing more and more confidence’, particularly when he compares his performances to last year. The two riders were expected to fight for the title at the end of the season, but the disparity in results has precluded any real rivalry.

Bagnaia watched back some of his former races to remind himself what he could do, but it may only have intensified his anguish. His teammate believes he must ‘reset’ before the San Marino Grand Prix and forget about the events of the last 16 races.

Marquez says the media are making Bagnaia’s life harder, and thinks he will start to regain self-belief when the questions about his form tail off. Their conversation went as follows.

Bagnaia: “It’s incredible how fast I was going last year and how slow I’m going now. I’m losing more and more confidence.”

Marquez: “You have to arrive to a track and do a reset. Misano is good. Then the journalists’ questions… when they stop, it’ll be better, you’ll see.

Bagnaia: “There’s nothing we can say today anyway.”

Marquez: “Thursday, Friday, Saturday, step by step, it will be better.”

The moment ‘alarm bells’ started ringing at Ducati in 2025

During pre-season testing, Bagnaia was close enough to Marquez in qualifying trim to suggest he could put the six-time world champion under pressure. He has managed to beat him four times over a single lap, a respectable if unsatisfactory effort.

However, Bagnaia trails the race head-to-head 26-1 (including Sprints). This is the same kind of dominance Fabio Quartararo has exerted against Alex Rins at Yamaha, or Johann Zarco against Somkiat Chantra at LCR.

And according to a report from GPOne, ‘alarm bells’ went off at Ducati when they saw their riders’ race simulations in the winter. Marquez’s ‘consistency and speed’ was a level above his teammate, even though he’d only just joined.

Bagnaia is one of the most successful riders at Misano, but past form has offered little indication of future success for the beleaguered 28-year-old this year.