How Ducati made the biggest mistake of the 2025 MotoGP season with Francesco Bagnaia

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Francesco Bagnaia’s nightmare 2025 MotoGP season is officially behind him and he can begin to focus on the future.

The two-time champion faced a plethora of struggles this year, and no one at Ducati seemed to have any answers for him.

It was bewildering to see someone of Bagnaia’s talents drop off a cliff so suddenly, but the reason probably boils down to multiple things. That’s how messy things got.

If things fail to improve for 2026, then he’s likely to have to test the MotoGP rider market. He’s bound to have options, but it means moving away from somewhere he thought he’d call home forever.

Rival rider Jorge Martin has backed Bagnaia to return to ‘top shape’ soon, but he needs the GP26 to be a significant step over its predecessor.

Even teammate Marc Marquez thinks Ducati ‘need’ to have Bagnaia if they want to stand a chance of winning more titles in the future.

READ MORE: Ranking every MotoGP rider’s 2025 season as Marc Marquez’s dominance overshadows Pecco Bagnaia’s disaster

Ducati favoured Marc Marquez too heavily over Francesco Bagnaia during the 2025 season

Bagnaia found ‘a lot of confidence’ at the post-season test, after trying some new parts on his bike. At times, his team just didn’t listen to what he wanted this year.

Now that the campaign is over, it’s pretty clear that Bagnaia and Ducati have to ‘build a bit of trust’ again if they want to reach the heights of 2023 once more.

But they found themselves making one critical mistake in 2025 that they cannot afford to repeat. They almost abandoned Bagnaia, just because he wasn’t winning.

Instead, it was all about Marquez and how quickly he had been able to bring success to the team. Even Mat Oxley has accused them of trying to ‘destroy’ Bagnaia in a Motorsport Magazine column.

If they’re serious about getting the ‘old Pecco’ back, then their approach must change. He needs to feel the support of the team, and they have to be willing to make adjustments for him.

READ MORE: Davide Tardozzi saw clear sign that Francesco Bagnaia ‘found his way again’ during the Valencia test

Why Francesco Bagnaia should leave Ducati after 2026

At this stage, a fresh start may be best for everyone involved and help give Bagnaia a new lease of life again.

Nobody likes to see him struggling, not even his own team, but another few months of failing to tailor to his needs makes the situation clear.

Bagnaia was ‘lucky’ to avoid injury at the season-ender in Valencia a few weeks ago, but it was his sixth retirement in seven Grands Prix.

If that doesn’t improve for 2026, then he could be better off starting off fresh at a big project like Yamaha. A real challenge for him to get stuck in to.