Marco Bezzecchi
Francesco Bagnaia admits he’s been in a rut at Ducati for over a year now as he prepares for the French Grand Prix.
Bagnaia arrives at Le Mans ninth in the championship, which puts him fourth among the six Ducati riders. It was arguably at this very race last year that his 2025 season started to unravel.
The Italian had finished on the podium at Jerez one round earlier, but failed to score at Le Mans after a Sprint crash and a 16th place finish in a wet race. He would suffer eight more DNFs before the end of the season.
Francesco Bagnaia lifts the lid on Ducati’s ‘nervous’ bike
Speaking to Sky Italy on Thursday, Bagnaia said Ducati had actually solved the lack of front feeling that plagued him throughout the 2025 season, and yet his results haven’t markedly improved.
Bagnaia scored podiums in the USA and Spain Sprints, but his Grand Prix record so far reads P9, DNF, P10, DNF. A technical problem led to his retirement last time out, but the larger issue is that the DNA of the bike has changed.
Ducati are on their worst run for 12 years – is a dynasty falling?
When the Italian was fighting for world championships, and indeed winning them, he was able to attack the corners, but that’s ‘no longer’ possible.
Still, Bagnaia says he arrives at every event feeling optimistic.
“It’s a pretty difficult time for Ducati in general, which is definitely not working as we expected,” he said.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been in this situation for over a year, so I’m struggling quite a bit, and it’s strange because this year I feel better on the bike, I have more feeling, especially at the front, but I still can’t do what I want.
“We have a pretty nervous bike under braking. You could see that in my crash in Jerez [during practice]. You have to be extremely precise because it tends to move a lot, and it’s no longer the Ducati where you brake really hard, come in really hard, and stay there.
“A bit like Alex Marquez managed to make it work in Jerez, he managed to do that.
“So it’s a complicated moment, but, as I’ve said more than once, I’m a romantic, and honestly, I always believe in arriving at the Grand Prix and going up front. I always believe in that, I know we have the potential to stay up front, and we just need to find the right balance.”
Should Pecco Bagnaia be secretly happy about Ducati’s decline?
The consensus is that, after dominating MotoGP for years, Ducati have now been surpassed by Aprilia. Alex Marquez may have won the Spanish GP on the Gresini, but the standings are clear.
Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin are one-two in the riders’ championship and they already have an 89-point lead over satellite team Trackhouse in the teams’ table.
Bagnaia is joining Aprilia at the end of the year, a move that will be confirmed once the sport’s new commercial agreement is finalised.
While his farewell to Ducati could be underwhelming, it seems he may be leaving Borgo Panigale at the right time, even if the regulation changes could disrupt the current pecking order.
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