Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia has made a lot of headlines during the 2025 MotoGP season, but for all of the wrong reasons. The Italian rider has struggled massively alongside his dominant teammate, Marc Marquez.
The Ant of Cervera has rarely put a foot wrong all season, and is within arm’s reach of clinching his seventh premier class title. Marquez could secure the championship at Motegi, the same track he has secured three of the six titles he already has under his belt.
Marquez thinks the media aren’t helping with Bagnaia’s struggles, believing that the two-time world champion will come good again once the hype surrounding his woes at the Ducati factory team dies down.
The most recent Grand Prix of Catalonia didn’t help his case. The Italian rider qualified 21st on Saturday, finishing the Sprint outside of the points-paying positions and benefiting from several crashes to claim seventh in the Grand Prix.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend
Jorge Lorenzo has identified Francesco Bagnaia as an ‘
excessively sensitive’ MotoGP rider
Speaking on a recent episode of the Dura La Vita podcast, two-time MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo weighed in on Bagnaia’s struggles at Ducati in 2025, seeing something in him that he also sees in himself.
“Pecco is a very methodical, very good rider, a two-time world champion, but he’s one of those excessively sensitive riders, very sensitive,” Lorenzo told his co-hosts.
“Riders like [John] Kocinski, [Max] Biaggi, and myself, when we don’t have everything in place and the bike’s feedback doesn’t convince us, we suffer more than a less sensitive rider like Casey [Stoner], Marc, and [Loris] Capirossi: riders who like the bike to move.
“Riders who take more risks, who aren’t so fine-tuned, who don’t need the front wheel so stable.”
The MotoGP paddock believes Bagnaia would be more successful on the GP24 during the current campaign, instead of continuing to struggle to get to grips with the current spec GP25.
The Turin native won 11 races atop last year’s spec in 2024, narrowly missing out on the riders’ championship to Jorge Martin, who won his maiden premier class title at a satellite team for the first time in the history of MotoGP.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Jorge Lorenzo calls for Ducati to give Francesco Bagnaia more ‘time and patience’
Continuing with his earlier verdict, Lorenzo also theorised on what Bagnaia needs to return to his previous form of competing for and winning multiple world championships in the premier class.
“He needs time,” Lorenzo remarked. “Time and patience with this slump of results that Bagnaia has had, which practically all riders have gone through.
“Because, except for Márquez, who perhaps hasn’t had a long slump, we’ve all experienced it. I’ve had moments where I practically didn’t score points, like with Derbi in 2004, after winning my first race in 2003. In the first three races, I scored no points, and then I started winning.”
Bagnaia’s Ducati contract will expire at the end of 2026, with multiple young stars being tipped to be in line for a seat at the factory team if they decide to move on from the Italian rider.
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