“Delicate situation with Ducati management” in Marc Marquez-Pecco Bagnaia garage

Ducati bosses face a “delicate situation” managing their factory duo Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia in the next MotoGP rounds.

Factory newcomer Marquez has stormed to the top of the MotoGP standings after Le Mans, where he won the sprint race then finished runner-up in the grand prix.

He has built a 22-point lead in the MotoGP standings from second-placed Alex Marquez which might have been even greater had he not crashed in Texas and Jerez with a huge haul of points at stake.

His suitability to the GP25 is in stark contrast to teammate Bagnaia who, despite his greater experience riding a Ducati, has never adjusted to this year’s bike.

Pecco Bagnaia "lost" amid Marc Marquez battle

“Playing devil’s advocate, Pecco could say ‘well, I saw others do on the GP24 what I used to do’,” Lewis Duncan told the Crash MotoGP podcast.

“But he didn’t score eight times last year, and lost the championship. Looking backwards isn’t a good thing.

“He’s saying he had a good feeling on that bike, but he made mistakes.

“I think he’s too lost in his head.

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“Davide Tardozzi was asked if it’s largely just a confidence thing.

“They’ve said all season that they’re trying to fix the bike. This front end thing was brought up before, in Thailand and Argentina, but Ducati said ‘we are doing what we can, but you are a world champion, ride around it!’

“Now Pecco has realised that. He thought ‘it can’t be me, it can’t be me’. But he’s realised after the Jerez test that it is.

“He has effectively re-set his championship, six rounds in, which is a nightmare because Marquez is doing Marquez things.

“Things can only get better, now he’s realised it.

“But there will be a delicate situation with Ducati management. If they can’t get his head, in the next few rounds, where it needs to be, then the championship isn’t going to happen.

“He was unfortunate at the weekend because he was on the right tyre and deserved more than what he came away with.”

Bagnaia is 51 points shy of championship leader and teammate Marquez, after crashing and finishing 16th in Le Mans. It was his first point-less grand prix of 2025.

He again struggled with front end feeling, a familiar tale in Bagnaia’s year.

Marquez, however, goes from strength to strength.

“It says a lot about a racer that, at 32 and with all the success he’s had, he’s willing to adapt and learn, rather than say ‘I am the greatest of all time’,” Lewis Duncan added.

“Because other riders have been guilty of that. You get to a point where ‘I don’t need to learn anything else’.

“Marc is almost treating this championship as if it’s his first.”