Marco Bezzecchi
Andrea Iannone regrets that Francesco Bagnaia will leave Ducati after everything he has “lost”, but there is a lot that cannot be forgotten about the Italian’s years in red.
The news that the MotoGP paddock had long known was coming was finally announced this Wednesday with confirmation that Bagnaia will leave Ducati once his contract expires. It was also announced this Wednesday that KTM racer Pedro Acosta will replace Bagnaia next year.
Bagnaia was officially only on the market for a day, though, as Aprilia followed Ducati’s news by revealing that the two-time MotoGP champion will leave Borgo Panigale and go to Noale next season. It was even confirmed that Bagnaia has signed a four-year contract with Aprilia.
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Andrea Iannone urges people not to ‘forget’ Francesco Bagnaia’s successes with Ducati
Bagnaia knows his four-year Aprilia contract is unusual, as MotoGP teams normally only give out contracts for a set two years. Marquez’s new deal for Ducati only ties him down through 2028, and Acosta has similarly only signed up to race with the Bologna Bullets for two years.
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Ducati’s move to create an all-Spanish rider line-up of Marquez and Acosta has also drawn attention, as 2027 will mark the first time that they have never had an Italian in their factory line-up. But Iannone stresses that Ducati chief Luigi Dall’Igna only ever wants the best riders.
Seeing Ducati axe Bagnaia is a shame for Iannone, though, and he begs people to remember all that they accomplished together. Bagnaia returned Ducati to the summit of MotoGP with his titles in 2022 and 2023, as the team had not won the title since Casey Stoner’s in 2007.
Iannone told Motorsport.com: “I know how Gigi works. He looks at performance and results on the track.
“In short, regardless of nationality, which obviously is important, of course, it’s nice to have an Italian rider on a Ducati. For many years, we only had Italians, starting with Dovi (Andrea Dovizioso) and me. In the end, obviously, things can change over time.
“Of course, I also regret that Pecco is no longer with Ducati, but that’s life. After so many years, they’ve achieved so many goals.
“We can see what’s been lost, but we can’t forget what they’ve brought home, what they’ve accomplished together. A precious chapter in history for everyone.”
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Ducati have been the dominant team in MotoGP in recent years after Dall’Igna led them in a technical revolution to master aerodynamics. But before that, success was often thin and far between with Dovizioso’s 14 Grand Prix wins between 2013 and 2020 the best they secured.
Bagnaia, though, sits on 31 MotoGP Grand Prix wins, and has scored each of his wins for the factory Ducati team – making him by far their most successful rider in history. Stoner scored 23 of his 38 career wins with Ducati, while Marquez has currently taken 13 wins with Ducati.
The Italian is also the only rider to win multiple premier class titles with Ducati, and he even finished second in 2021 with a 26-point deficit to Fabio Quartararo and 2024 with a 10-point deficit to Jorge Martin. But Bagnaia’s fall to fifth in the 2025 table set the course for his exit.
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