MotoGP legend Casey Stoner has revealed that Ducati didn’t compensate him at all for the work he did with Francesco Bagnaia at the height of the Italian’s MotoGP struggles last season.
Stoner made a rare appearance inside the MotoGP paddock last year in an attempt to help Bagnaia and Ducati find a solution to the woes that had plagued the 29-year-old’s form in 2025.
The Australian’s feature came at the site of his former nemesis’ stomping ground, the San Marino Grand Prix, with Bagnaia later revealing that Stoner immediately saw something that his engineers didn’t. He also thanked the MotoGP legend for being “super useful”.
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Bagnaia’s form also received a massive boost from Stoner’s help, albeit for just one weekend. The Italian scored a perfect round of racing two weeks later in Japan, which proved to be Bagnaia’s most successful race weekend of the season.
However, Stoner has since fumed over the fact that he was not adequately rewarded for the help that he granted to the Borgo Panigale-based outfit in a blunt interview with GPOne.
- READ MORE: Francesco Bagnaia reveals his only frustration about working with Casey Stoner in the Ducati garage
Casey Stoner says he will not make the ‘mistake’ of working ‘for free’ ever again after helping Francesco Bagnaia
During an appearance at the recent 2026 edition of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, Stoner was asked whether he misses the premier class paddock after Bagnaia, as well as Ducati chief Davide Tardozzi, thanked him for his work at the team last year.
While he appreciated the kind words from the Bologna Bullets, he isn’t too keen on putting himself out there again, replying, “I do miss it, but I put too much of myself into it and so often didn’t get the response I expected in return.
“It seems there’s no reward at all when you do things like that. It was a great honour for me to hear Pecco thanking me for it, and I did it for no other reason than to help him. But I won’t be doing anything else for free in future. I won’t give away my knowledge for nothing.
“Unfortunately, I’ve done it far too many times in the past, and they simply send you away once they’ve got what they want from you and make you disappear. I won’t make the same mistake again; I won’t go and help for no reason, and I won’t do it for nothing.”
- READ MORE: Casey Stoner once won the MotoGP championship despite riding a bike that was getting ‘eaten alive’
It seems that there may be a rift between the two-time MotoGP world champion and his former employers. Stoner previously warned Bagnaia about Ducati’s tendency to replace riders going through a rough patch, and their signing of Pedro Acosta proves he was right all along.
Still, the Australian remains a key figure in Ducati’s history in the premier class. Having been the first rider to bring a world title back to Borgo Panigale back in 2007, it does beg the question of why his help was not adequately compensated for by Ducati’s top brass.
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