Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia is running out of possible answers to explain why he has struggled so much on Ducati’s GP25 this year.
The two-time champion has tried just about everything to uncover why he has gone from being a MotoGP title contender to outside the top three within the space of 12 months. His latest foray at the Australian Grand Prix was perhaps his worst race of the season.
At this stage, Ducati will be questioning what to do with someone who was their superstar rider not long ago. Bagnaia has shown he still has it within him, with a dominant weekend at Japan a few weeks ago, but something between him and the bike is no longer clicking like it once did.
Bagnaia has been told to leave Ducati and pursue a fresh start to cleanse the negative energy surrounding his current campaign. Ducati are lining up Bagnaia’s replacement, but he still has a chance to prove everyone wrong when he hits the track in 2026. It’s going to be a very pressured situation.
Fermin Aldeguer agrees with Francesco Bagnaia about Ducati’s bike problems
Bagnaia has created distance with Ducati’s management, and it won’t be doing his relationship with anyone within the outfit any favours. Marc Marquez has proven that the bike is capable of dominating in the right hands, which makes the outlook appear a little worse for Bagnaia.
For everyone on the outside, it’s hard to know exactly what is going on, since the Borgo Panigale outfit can be so secretive about their woes. Bagnaia’s Ducati crash admission proved that he’s not willing to accept where he is right now, which is a painful place to be.
Fellow Ducati rider Fermin Aldeguer is in agreement with him about the bike’s latest issue at Phillip Island, though, where it shook under acceleration and caused them trouble. In a behind-the-scenes car ride on INSIDE Ducati, Aldeguer shared how following other bikes amplifies their difficulties.
“When I’m alone, I can ride a little bit more, but I’m at the limit,” said Bagnaia. “The bike is always moving when I’m behind someone. I feel like I’m falling off the bike.”
“Me too,” Aldeguer responded. “I tried in the sprint, but when you’re close to the guys in front [it’s bad].”
“I think the hard tyre doesn’t work well with our bike,” Bagnaia fired back. “It closes so much at the front.”
READ MORE: Suzi Perry saw Francesco Bagnaia do something no rider would after his Australian Grand Prix crash
Francesco Bagnaia repeated that Ducati’s bike ‘doesn’t turn’ at Phillip Island
Bagnaia’s troubles run deeper than his bike, according to KTM test rider Pol Espargaro, who believes that the Italian rider has been affected in more than one way during the 2025 season.
One of his last hopes may be to return to as much of a GP24 specification as possible for 2026, apart from the homologated engine, and pray that he can rediscover his old form.
In Phillip Island, he repeated the same issue when returning to the pit lane to speak to his engineers, demanding a change from them.
“It doesn’t turn. It doesn’t turn, it doesn’t turn,” he said. “I have to force it, I start to lose it, it won’t work. I’m coming, I’ll push it into the corner.
“When I push the gas, I need the speed to get out. I suddenly start to lose it. We need to put more control there.”
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