VR46: “A small problem became a bigger one” - Exclusive

VR46 began the MotoGP winter break with unanswered questions after an inconsistent first season as Ducati’s factory-supported satellite team.

The step up in status also saw Fabio di Giannantonio join Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia on factory-spec GP25 machinery, while new arrival Franco Morbidelli remained on a GP24.

With Jorge Martin having won the world title under Ducati’s previous factory-supported Pramac structure, expectations were inevitably high.

The campaign began encouragingly, with early podiums for both VR46 riders.

But from pre-season testing, it was Gresini’s Alex Marquez who emerged as the factory team’s closest challenger.

While Marc and Alex Marquez went on to secure a historic brotherly one-two in the standings, Bagnaia slipped to fifth overall, followed by di Giannantonio and Morbidelli.

Gresini rookie Fermin Aldeguer claimed a race win on his way to eighth, something neither VR46 rider managed. In the teams’ standings, Ducati Lenovo finished ahead of Gresini, with VR46 in third.

“Not so bad,” Nieto told Crash.net, when asked to review 2025. 

“Let's say that expectations are always a little bit bigger, because always you want to do better. But that's normal.

“We have to see where we can improve to make something better in 2026.

“I think it's very important for us to look back and see what happened.”

"Why can't he make all the races like that?"

Between them, di Giannantonio and Morbidelli collected 13 rostrums in Sprint and Grand Prix races. However, neither rider claimed back-to-back Sunday podiums.

“I think the biggest problem we had this season is that we weren't so consistent. One race, we were fighting to win. At another race, it was difficult to finish in the top ten. So we have to understand why,” Nieto confirmed.

“Because in the end, when one rider is trying to fight for the podium or for the victory, that means he has the speed. So why can't he make all the races like that? This is the goal, so we have to check what happened.”

"A small problem became a bigger one"

The inconsistency affected both riders, despite their different spec of bikes.

“We have to check, because it's strange,” Nieto acknowledged. “Sometimes Diggia was very fast, sometimes Franco was very fast.

“I think the biggest problem that we had with both riders, it was that when we had a problem, a small problem became a bigger one. That's one of the main points we have to work on.”

Were Diggia’s front-end confidence issues similar to those suffered by Bagnaia?

“To tell you the truth, I don't know, because I'm not in the garage of Pecco,” Nieto replied.

“Sometimes I hear that we are quite similar in some points. But it's very difficult to say, because the riders are in different teams.”

di Giannantonio will be one of four riders on a factory spec GP26 this season, with the promotion of Alex Marquez, while Morbidelli joins only Aldeguer in running a satellite spec machine.