Marco Bezzecchi
Mick Doohan has “no doubt” that Ducati star Francesco Bagnaia is still an “incredible” rider, but he sees two likely reasons for what caused his demise in the past two years.
Bagnaia has perplexed Doohan with his rapid rate of regression since fighting for four riders’ titles in a row to finishing fifth in the 2025 standings, and sitting only ninth in the 2026 table after three rounds. He has only secured 25 points, for his worst start to a season since 2022.
Two-time premier class champion Bagnaia has failed to finish higher than ninth in any of the first three Grands Prix this season. Bagnaia rose from only P13 on the grid for P9 in Thailand, crashed in Brazil after qualifying P11 and finished P10 in America despite qualifying up in P4.
Bagnaia “just tried to get to the end” at COTA, after he suffered with extreme rear tyre wear after only eight laps. It took the shine off what had been a strong weekend, which saw Jorge Martin overtake Bagnaia to win the COTA Sprint on the last lap due to his medium rear tyre.
Have Ducati been too reliant on Marc Marquez to develop their bike?
Mick Doohan wonders whether Francesco Bagnaia is still struggling because of Marc Marquez
Five-time 500cc champion Doohan cannot understand how Bagnaia has dropped away from the dominance he displayed to win the 2022 and 2023 MotoGP titles. The Italian completed the greatest comeback in MotoGP history in 2022, and took 15 podiums in 19 races in 2023.
READ MORE: The best moments of Francesco Bagnaia’s MotoGP career
Doohan wonders whether the root cause of Bagnaia’s regression comes from him struggling to adapt to the Ducati GP25 last year or the GP26 this year. Alternatively, the arrival of Marc Marquez at Ducati in 2025 and the dominance he had might have sparked Bagnaia’s demise.
“I don’t know what happened to Bagnaia,” he told MARCA. “But he has incredible talent, I have no doubt about it.
“I don’t know if it was something related to the bike, or if it happened after Marc Marquez joined the team. But you can’t deny how dominant he was in the two world championships he won.”
Marquez joined Ducati in 2025 at what was already a low point for Bagnaia, after he lost the 2024 riders’ title to Martin by 10 points despite securing 11 Grand Prix wins from 20 races. Losing the 2024 title played on Bagnaia’s mind during his honeymoon over the winter, too.
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Then, on top of having Marquez as his teammate while the Spaniard secured 11 wins from the 18 Grands Prix that he contested in 2025, Bagnaia realised he could have done more to adapt to the Ducati GP25. But a lot of the problems he had in 2025 have remained in 2026.
Speaking in Brazil after struggling with Michelin’s harder rear tyre carcass, Bagnaia revealed he does not understand why he struggles for speed during races aboard the Ducati GP26 so far this term. He has struggled with braking and carrying cornering speed, just like in 2025.
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