Francesco Bagnaia may have ‘hurt’ Ducati chief in key decision that led to his revival at Motegi

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Francesco Bagnaia returned to race-winning form at the Japanese Grand Prix, winning the Sprint race and Grand Prix after taking pole position on Saturday morning, but journalist Peter Bom believes the Italian rider may have “hurt” a key member of the Ducati set-up in the process.

Bagnaia managed to take his second win of the season at Motegi, stretching out a lead as the lights went out that proved to be too much for his championship-winning teammate, Marc Marquez, to contend with.

The perfect weekend marked a stark change in results for the 28-year-old, who has suffered in his attempts to replicate the incredible results of Marquez atop the same calibre of machinery.

Bagnaia was aided by the help of Casey Stoner inside the garage at Misano.

Despite not achieving a desirable result at the San Marino Grand Prix, the MotoGP legend was able to suss out the problems immediately for the struggling Italian.

READ MORE: Marc Marquez issues verdict on Francesco Bagnaia’s ‘little’ resurgence at the Japanese Grand Prix

Peter Bom thinks Francesco Bagnaia’s decision to return to parts from the GP24 ‘hurt’ Luigi Dall’Igna

During his success at Motegi, it emerged that Ducati had fitted multiple parts of the GP24 to Bagnaia’s GP25 which was integral to the two-time MotoGP champion’s revival.

Bagnaia won 11 Grands Prix atop the older spec Ducati in 2024. His results in the 2025 season prior to the Japanese Grand Prix showed a clear indication that the ridability of the GP25 had regressed from the previous edition.

Speaking on an episode of the MotoGP Pit Talk podcast, journalist Peter Bom highlighted the impact that Bagnaia’s desire to return to older spec parts may have had on Ducati’s general manager, Luigi Dall’Igna.

“I really think he’s more or less on the 2024 bike now. It must be legal in any way. So technicians, especially of his level and his ego, don’t like to go back to older things. They make a new bike that’s better, so we forget about the old bike,” Bom said.

The Dutchman continued with, “Gigi [Dall’Igna] came pretty far by believing his numbers and his calculations and his shimmer. He got pretty, pretty far with that. 2023 was not better than 2022, and 2025 is not better than 2024.”

“So you don’t want to you don’t want to go back. You don’t want to do that, because really, it hurts, because everybody knows except you and me at the moment.

“We will all hear it at some point, but that must have hurt for Gigi to go back. Pecco immediately, I mean, everything, the pole position, the sprint, the whole race.”

After Bagnaia’s DNF at Misano, Dall’Igna explicitly stated that Ducati were losing patience with the 28-year-old, which suggests that they reached a point where the team were willing to do anything in order to get him back to his form of previous years.

READ MORE: MotoGP paddock rumour claims Ducati made change to Pecco Bagnaia’s bike that didn’t seem ‘possible’

Peter Bom isn’t convinced that Francesco Bagnaia is ‘completely back’

Despite enjoying a weekend in which he didn’t put a foot wrong, Bom is unconvinced that the win at Motegi signifies a complete change in form for the Ducati rider.

Continuing on the MotoGP Pit Talk podcast, the journalist said, “I’m not too overly enthusiastic yet that he is completely back, and maybe even can challenge Marc, because this is a very, very special track.

“On this track, everything worked. And he was only competitive because Marc had just one thing on his mind, getting the championship done and dusted, and Alex was having a complete off weekend because this track is special.”

With the championship already wrapped up, Bagnaia can set his sights on trying to challenge Alex Marquez for the second-place spot in the riders’ standings.

There’s currently a gap of 66 points between the two riders, which may prove to be too much of a deficit if Bagnaia isn’t able to turn it around by the time the chequered flag falls at the Valencian Grand Prix at the end of the season.