Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia suffered his second retirement of the 2025 MotoGP season at the San Marino Grand Prix.
The 28-year-old’s nightmare season could be about to get even worse, with Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi just eight points away from knocking him out of the top three in the standings. For Ducati, it’s an alarming indication of a trend that he has followed all year.
Bagnaia knows more than anyone that he needs to find improvements, but he just cannot seem to gel with the GP25 bike. The form he had when winning his MotoGP titles feels like a long time ago, and it makes 2026 a vital season.
Amid his recent struggles, Bagnaia received some ‘helpful’ advice from Casey Stoner, who knows a lot about riding tricky Italian machinery. It came after Bagnaia was spotted making a ‘weird’ gesture after losing five places during the San Marino Grand Prix sprint.
READ MORE: Marc Marquez has made clear there’s no chance he does something that could help Francesco Bagnaia
Neil Hodgson claims Francesco Bagnaia’s decision not to crash in 2025 has been ‘strange’
One of the main problems appears to be that Luigi Dall’Igna cannot get through to Bagnaia, and that he’s almost resigned to the poor performance that he’s suffering from. He has another year on his contract, but if he fails to improve, then he might be out.
Bagnaia has been warned ‘very little will change’ after 2025, but there’s hope that stripping back his bike to basics and reverting some of their alterations over the winter could help improve his situation and speed.
Speaking on TNT Sports, Neil Hodgson shared his view on a ‘strange’ decision from the two-time champion during the 2025 season.
“Do you know what, I said this earlier in the weekend, didn’t I? He’s complaining about the bike, but he’s not crashing much,” he said.
“I almost feel like I need to see him crash just to prove a point. I know that sounds really crude, but sometimes the sensation is that this feels like the limit.
“If you push a bit harder, the feeling doesn’t actually change much. Again, I know it sounds strange, but it’s not a bad thing with him crashing, it just helps underline his issues.”
Why Francesco Bagnaia could be in for a difficult time at the Japanese Grand Prix
Bagnaia may have to drop one ally if he wants to spark some positive change by the end of the year. On current form, his team might be looking at alternatives for the future.
There are a variety of potential options available, such as Fermin Aldeguer, Alex Marquez and maybe even Pedro Acosta.
If Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi outscores him by eight points at the Japanese Grand Prix, then he will be outside of the top three of the standings for the first time since 2022.
There may be a financial loss associated with dropping out of the top three, and KTM’s Pedro Acosta could also find a way to climb above him.
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