Fabio Quartararo “doing an amazing job with a slower bike than mine” - Pecco Bagnaia

Third place in the Spanish MotoGP for Francesco Bagnaia came just behind second-placed Fabio Quartararo on the Yamaha.

Quartararo’s performance gave a podium to a manufacturer other than Ducati for the first time in 2025, having been between 0.5 seconds and one second ahead of Bagnaia since he was passed for the lead by Alex Marquez on lap 11 of 25.

It was a performance that impressed Bagnaia, who was unable to get close enough to make a pass on the French rider after the first lap due to front end confidence issues, and who recognised the performance deficit of Quartararo’s YZR-M1 compared to his own Desmosedici GP25.

“That with a slower bike than mine – mine is a bike that allows me to win or to overtake easily every rider – he was doing an amazing job,” Bagnaia told the post-race press conference following the Spanish Grand Prix when asked what in particular about Quartararo’s ride had impressed him.

“I cannot be close [to him],” Bagnaia continued.

“He was really strong in fast corners, he was really strong in the braking, was squeezing every detail of his bike and was super-fast and I cannot get close.

“Even if I was arriving to him, like 0.0 seconds, I was quite sure that exiting from the last corner or on the other straight I was overtaking him easily on the straight.

“But it was not the case because everywhere he was exiting so smooth, so fast, and he was really strong.”

Quartararo’s faultless defensive ride earned him his first podium since the 2023 Indonesian Grand Prix, a day after securing his first pole since the 2022 trip to Mandalika.

For Bagnaia, his inability to find a way past the Monster Energy Yamaha rider consigned him to a third place finish for the third time in five Grands Prix. 

However, a DNF for his Ducati Lenovo teammate, Marc Marquez, meant that Bagnaia’s deficit to the championship lead – now in the hands of Alex Marquez – is now reduced to 20 points ahead of the French Grand Prix at Le Mans on 9–11 May.