Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia suffered a disastrous 2025 MotoGP season as he could not find any performance from the GP25.
The Italian came into 2025 off the back of heartbreak in 2024. Despite winning 11 out of 20 races, he lost the title to Jorge Martin by just 10 points.
With the Spaniard moving to Aprilia, Bagnaia was looking to get back to the top of MotoGP and clinch his third title. But there would soon be multiple obstacles for him to overcome, including having Marc Marquez on the other side of the Ducati garage.
Did Francesco Bagnaia receive an unfair amount of criticism last season?
Let us know in the comments below!
But Bagnaia’s biggest issue in 2025 was the bike. He could not get to grips with the GP25 as he struggled to extract performance in braking and corner entry.
While Marquez won 25 races and the championship, his teammate won just twice and finished P5 in the standings. Bagnaia had trouble with the ride height device in 2025, but the 29-year-old also admits he made mistakes of his own.
Francesco Bagnaia made a ‘big mistake’ by not appreciating his earlier results in 2025
Bagnaia admits he could have done more to adapt to the GP25, and speaking via the BENZINE // Cosimo Curatola YouTube channel, he also feels he made a mistake by not appreciating his performances at the start of the season.
While he was far away from challenging Marquez, Bagnaia was still scoring decent results, with seven podiums in the first 11 races, including a win in Austin. But after the summer break, those podiums became scarce, as he retired from five of the last six races.
“But then last year was a very difficult season in many ways,” said Bagnaia. “Definitely at the beginning I made a big mistake by not being happy with certain results that in the end didn’t even come.
“So I was in a lot of trouble on a technical level in terms of riding. I couldn’t use my riding style to go fast, I had to try to adapt to a bike that still caused me a lot of difficulty and it was complicated, perhaps to accept this.
“But in any case, everything is useful, difficulties always lead you to understand something and I think I understand.”
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Francesco Bagnaia has understood what went wrong in 2025 and is much more positive in 2026
Bagnaia had ‘conversations’ with Ducati at the end of 2025, where he accepted that his problems were not just down to the bike. He also took responsibility for his downturn in form.
The two-time MotoGP champion would have been working hard behind the scenes to put 2025 behind him and feel refreshed for 2026. However, Bagnaia will also have been looking for Ducati to give him a more comfortable bike.
Davide Tardozzi thinks Francesco Bagnaia is back 👀 How many races will he win in 2026?
After the Sepang test, it seems that this is the case with the GP26, as Bagnaia and the Ducati riders were smiling after hitting the track with it. The Italian can utilise his braking strength with the new Desmosedici, giving him confidence.
Bagnaia wants to challenge for the championship in 2026. While Marquez has proved almost impossible to beat on equal machinery, the Italian is certainly back in the game with the GP26.
Receive racing news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
