New questions for Pecco Bagnaia to solve involving game-changing brakes

Pecco Bagnaia’s season could be rejuvenated by a breakthrough with his brakes - but new questions have arisen due to this change.

Factory Ducati rider Bagnaia moved to larger 355mm discs on his brakes for the warm-up at the Aragon MotoGP, then rode to third.

He tested them a day later and emerged pleased with newfound front-end feel.

Heading into this weekend’s Italian MotoGP at Mugello, his home circuit, there is finally optimism around his campaign.

Brake question for Pecco Bagnaia to solve

But running the modification has provoked other questions inside the MotoGP paddock.

“He has got some confidence from Aragon, from the test, from trying these bigger brakes,” Peter McLaren told the Crash MotoGP podcast.

“Will it work at another track? Was it just a solution at Aragon? We don’t know yet.

“Presumably Ducati now have something solid to work with that helped Pecco.

“People were saying inside the paddock that there are other ways to achieve the same thing without having the bigger brakes.

“Maybe they will have other ideas for Pecco Bagnaia to try, alongside the bigger brakes.

“Will the bigger brakes hold him back in the fast corners where the bike should feel heavier?

“He is looking for momentum. It’s massive for him to build something.

“[At the test] he wasn’t pushing for a lap time and was ninth. He said it was the best test of the year. That tells you how tough the year has been for him.”

Bagnaia has won the past three grands prix at Mugello.

Teammate Marc Marquez, by contrast, hasn’t won at the circuit in 11 years.

Although Marquez is 93 points clear of Bagnaia in the MotoGP standings, there is a feelgood factor around the Italian as he heads to his home race.

But memories are fresh of Marquez looking impressive a year ago at Mugello on machinery which lagged behind Ducati’s best.

“Ducati saw something special in Marc during that weekend,” Peter McLaren continued.

“Now he’s on the latest bike we will see it potentially.

“For any Ducati rider, to win in Italy? It’s a big thing. Marc hasn’t always had the best relationship with the Italian fans.

“But Pecco will want to keep his win streak going.”

Jordan Moreland insisted: “This is not a weak Marc Marquez circuit!

“He hasn’t won since 2014 but should have won in 2016 when he was beaten to the line by Jorge Lorenzo.

“He was fast here last year on the ‘23 Ducati. This was the race where you could see on the straights how much he was losing [to the ‘24 Ducati].

“Now on the latest machinery, no matter if he says it’s a ‘24 or a ‘25, surely he can’t be thinking ‘I will be second’?

“He will go in and try to do what he did at Aragon.”