Marco Bezzecchi
Just about everyone has had enough of seeing Francesco Bagnaia struggle with Ducati during the 2025 MotoGP season.
The two-time champion looks set to lose hold of third place in the riders’ championship over the coming weeks, as he continues to fail to find a solution to his GP25 woes. Bagnaia has a contract for 2026, but could find himself under intense pressure if he fails to deliver results.
When Ducati’s advantage isn’t as large, the worry will be that he will have difficulty making the top 10, let alone competing for podiums. The MotoGP regulation changes for 2027 mean that it wouldn’t be a bad time for everyone to have a fresh start, but the Italian rider has always wanted to retire with his current team.
Bagnaia now needs to ‘prove a point’ after crashing out of the San Marino Grand Prix. It was his second retirement of the campaign after crashing out in Silverstone, and leaves him closer to Marco Bezzecchi in the standings than he would like to be. At one stage, Bagnaia made a ‘weird’ gesture.
READ MORE: Francesco Bagnaia names the surprising MotoGP rival who’s inspired him at the San Marino Grand Prix
Luigi Dall’Igna warns Francesco Bagnaia that ‘everyone’ at Ducati is losing patience
Even though there is hope of an adjustment over the winter, Bagnaia has been warned ‘very little will change’ with the GP26 next year. Last year, he won 11 races on the GP24, now he has just one to show for his efforts on the GP25.
Bagnaia has been told there is a 90% chance Ducati let him go for 2027, which would leave him searching for a new seat. The main problem with that is that it’s hard to see where else on the grid could give him the chance to win.
Speaking to the Italian edition of Motorsport.com after the San Marino Grand Prix, Ducati boss Luigi Dall’Igna wasn’t best impressed with his rider.
“I think everyone has. I’ve lost patience too, even Pecco’s fans have lost patience. It seems quite normal to me that someone would say these things when results aren’t coming, because we’re all human. We always have to start from this premise.”
Why Francesco Bagnaia’s gap to Marc Marquez could ‘widen further’ in 2026
With just six races to go in 2025, Bagnaia will be excited to wave goodbye to the most testing season of his career so far.
The post-season test will be the first opportunity for him to make some significant changes since February this year.
In a way, the Barcelona test will be vital for them to figure out which changes might have made a difference for their superstar rider.
If they fail to put their finger on their woes, there’s a chance that Bagnaia’s gap to Marquez could ‘widen further’ in 2026.
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