Jorge Martin makes ‘top’ Francesco Bagnaia prediction ahead of the 2026 season

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Francesco Bagnaia’s downturn in fortunes was one of the more peculiar things that has happened in MotoGP recently.

The two-time champion spent most of the 2025 campaign chasing his own tail, and Ducati couldn’t find any answers for him.

Bagnaia is desperate for his prayers to be answered over the winter, and help offer him the chance for a fresh start.

However, his MotoGP competitors are catching up, and winning isn’t as easy as it once was when his team had a clearer advantage.

Ducati ‘need’ Bagnaia to return to form, according to teammate Marc Marquez, who dominated their head-to-head in 2025.

Fortunately, at the post-season test in Valencia, Bagnaia found ‘a lot of confidence’ with a bike that should feature in 2026. It’s a promising sign.

READ MORE: Luigi Dall’Igna pulls quick U-turn on Ducati’s ‘trust’ in Francesco Bagnaia after nightmare season

Jorge Martin backs Francesco Bagnaia to return to ‘top shape’ soon

Neil Hodgson is ‘confident’ Ducati’s 2026 bike will be better and give their riders a better platform to compete with than the GP25.

Bagnaia ‘may be forced to wait’ before finding out his next destination for 2027. His contract is up in 12 months, and his performance raises a few questions.

Overall, the MotoGP rider market should be quite fascinating over the next few months. Bagnaia will have options if Ducati opts to go for someone else.

Now, rival Jorge Martin has backed him to return to his best soon, but doesn’t know exactly why he faltered in 2025.

“In the end, everyone in their team knows what happens or not, and in the end, I definitely expected Pecco to fight for the world championship,” he told GPOne. “At the beginning of the year, he was ready.

“Then I don’t know what happened. In the end, you have to talk to him and find out what happened. Even at the end, you can’t ask him what happened, but Pecco won’t be as slow as I was, and he’ll be able to get back in top shape.”

READ MORE: Francesco Bagnaia admits what he has ‘struggled to accept’ at Ducati during nightmare 2025 season

How Francesco Bagnaia’s team have Ducati concerns for 2026

Over the final seven races of the season, Bagnaia retired six times and took one victory. He had a lot of bad luck, but also made some mistakes.

Bagnaia’s team have concerns over Ducati’s engineers, but there may be a strong reason for it. They don’t always understand him.

It’s another thing that he needs to work on over the winter. Getting on the same page as his colleagues could be worth time on track.

He laid some foundations at the post-season test, and now it’s time for him to kick on and continue to build his confidence at Sepang in a few months.