Bagnaia will overcome Ducati MotoGP struggles

Dominant MotoGP points leader Marc Marquez says his factory Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia will overcome his widely-documented struggles.

Bagnaia, who is a distant third in the championship behind Marc Marquez and has only won once this season, had yet another tough weekend last time out in Austria. After the race, he told reporters he was “running out of patience” with Ducati.

While Marquez did not specify when he expected Bagnaia to work out the Ducati GP25 – or whether improvement may only come when he gets an entirely different bike – he did offer the Italian a general vote of confidence.

“I think Pecco is smart enough and has enough experience to absorb all these things,” said Marquez, evading the question of whether he could imagine Bagnaia beating him this season. “In the end, he is a two-time world champion already.

“We are in MotoGP and with MotoGP bikes, when you’re missing confidence, you lose 0.030s or 0.040s in each braking point – but at the end of the lap it’s two tenths. He is in a moment when he needs to regain his confidence.

“But, at the same time, we saw on Friday in Austria that he was the fastest out there. Pecco is Pecco and he will [get there] sooner or later.”

Meanwhile, in Bagnaia’s media briefing, he backtracked on his Austrian comments and underlined his long-term commitment to the manufacturer with which he won the world championship in 2022 and 2023.

“One of my faults is always more or less to say what I think,” admitted Bagnaia. “Sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it’s bad. When you finish a very disastrous weekend, a very disastrous race, and then you go directly to do the interviews… it’s not a good idea.”

The 28-year-old then dismissed paddock chat about his leaving Ducati after his contract runs out at the end of next season.

“It’s not something I’m thinking about. If I can remain, I will remain. If not, I will try to go somewhere else.

“But my priority is to win again with my bike, with my team, and never think about changing.”

Bagnaia was also asked if he was curious about testing the GP24 bike, with which he gelled so well last season, to compare it with the GP25 on which he is having so many problems. But given that homologation issues mean he cannot switch back to the older machine for races, Bagnaia said he would rather not tease himself.

“Honestly, it’s something that I don’t want to try, because in case I will prefer it, I cannot go [back to racing with it]. So it’s… better not to show the potential of last year’s bike.”