Marco Bezzecchi
Ahead of his move to Aprilia next year, Francesco Bagnaia has recounted his time with the factory Ducati team, naming Jack Miller as a key contributor to the success of the front-running MotoGP constructor.
The pair of Grand Prix winners shared a total of four seasons together as teammates, with Miller remaining by Bagnaia’s side from his very first race in the premier class to the clinching of his first MotoGP world title.
Predict the podium at the German Grand Prix this weekend 🔮
In that time, the Italian constructor made the step up from occasional Grand Prix winners to a force to be reckoned with. Since the start of the decade, Ducati have had the constructors’ championship in a chokehold, as well as the riders’ championship, too.
While the effect that Marc Marquez has had on the team since joining last year can’t be overstated, he switched from Honda to Ducati at a point in time where Borgo Panigale were by far the best brand on the grid.
Bagnaia and Miller, on the other hand, were the ones who set the foundations for the many records that Ducati-branded bikes have smashed since.
- READ MORE: Francesco Bagnaia says Jack Miller is a ‘fantastic’ teammate after their Ducati partnership
Francesco Bagnaia says he and Jack Miller are responsible for Ducati’s recent MotoGP success
During his Thursday afternoon media duties ahead of this weekend’s German Grand Prix, Bagnaia touched upon his exit from Ducati that is set to take place at the end of the current campaign.
“I joined Ducati when I was 21 or 22; eight years have passed, and in eight years you get to know each other 100 per cent,” he began via the Italian edition of Motorsport.com.
Does Jack Miller still have the talent to fight further up the grid?
“We’ve had a few disagreements, but we understood each other straight away, and we worked extremely well together right from the start.”
After cutting his teeth at the then-Ducati-backed Pramac outfit during his first two terms in MotoGP, Bagnaia was given the call-up to the factory team in 2021 to race alongside Miller.
Both riders had ample knowledge of each other from their time together as teammates at Pramac, and Bagnaia believes the Australian was a key part of the Borgo Panigale-based brand’s huge success in recent years.
“My aim was to create a fantastic atmosphere in the team, and together with Jack Miller – especially in the first two years – we built what is now the Ducati team,” he continued.
“It was great to succeed, and thanks also to them for listening to me so much at the start, in creating a bike that worked well for everyone.
“We had several races where eight Ducatis were in the top eight places, and that’s something that makes me very proud because it means the work and the direction we were taking were the right ones.”
Despite Miller spending just two seasons as a Bologna Bullet, it remains his most successful stint with a single team over the course of his MotoGP career.
The 31-year-old took three trips to the top step of the podium in red, and also contributed to Ducati’s first-ever back-to-back feats in the teams’ championships.
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