Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia suffered another disaster in 2025 as he crashed out of the Indonesian Grand Prix from last place.
The Italian found himself riding at the back of the grid after failing to reach Q2 at Mandalika. It came just a week after Bagnaia dominated at Motegi, claiming pole position and winning both the Sprint and main race.
It prompted speculation about what specification he was riding, with rumours emerging that he tested the GP24 at Misano. Bagnaia stayed tight-lipped on the matter, but his Motegi win only sparked more conversation.
‘High whispers’ suggest Bagnaia raced the GP24 at Motegi, which would explain why he was more comfortable on the bike. But nothing was given away, as Ducati took a vow of silence over what changes were made to the 28-year-old’s machine.
His performance at the Indonesian Grand Prix made matters more complicated. He qualified 16th before finishing last in the Sprint and crashing out on Sunday, prompting the exact talk that Ducati tried to stop.
Davide Tardozzi tried to stop people talking about the spec of Francesco Bagnaia’s bike, but ‘everyone’ is talking about it
Bagnaia demanded answers from Ducati as he branded his Sprint performance as ‘unacceptable’. He could not wrap his head around how he had gone from winning at Motegi to running slower than Somkiat Chantra at one stage on Sunday.
Bagnaia raised questions over his relationship with Ducati due to his blunt answers in media debriefs about his bike. Davide Tardozzi had made an effort to prevent people from speculating on the issue, but it did not work.
Speaking via the Paddock Pass Podcast, journalist David Emmett says that ‘everyone’ is talking about what bike Bagnaia was riding, despite Ducati’s best attempts to quieten the issue.
“Tardozzi did not want people talking about what bike Pecco Bagnaia was on, and he put so much effort into it that everyone was talking about what bike Pecco Bagnaia was on,” he said.
“And it’s completely pointless. There would have been a much easier solution.”
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Francesco Bagnaia got a ‘good talking to’ at Ducati over what spec bike he was riding
Neil Morrison added that Bagnaia got a ‘good talking to’ from Ducati about his bike. It would explain why he was blunt and dismissive with his answers to the media.
“You just got the impression that the mood was kind of set from early in the weekend. Ducati were being so weirdly secretive, pointlessly so,” he said. “This has been a bad season for Pecco, but it’s still been a good season for Ducati, and there’s no point trying to claim otherwise.
“We can all see with our eyes that Pecco is far from his best this year. So, if he used Franco Morbidelli’s GP24 at the Misano test, who cares? That shows that they’re trying to accommodate the rider and to find exactly what’s going on with him and to try and find a solution.
“The fact that they kept denying it and making things just seem a lot more cloudy and opaque than they needed to be. Just be transparent about the whole thing. I don’t understand.
“You got the impression that Pecco was getting quite irked by this as well. Like on Friday, he said: ‘I’m just the rider. I just say what people tell me to say;, when he was like, I’m not going to talk anymore about what spec I’m on. So, obviously, he’s had a good talking to behind the scenes.”
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