Pecco Bagnaia suggests radical Ducati MotoGP test idea to fix his woes

Pecco Bagnaia believes getting a GP24 rider to test the GP25 in Monday’s post-Aragon Grand Prix test could help him better understand his problems on the Ducati MotoGP bike.

The double world champion’s already difficult 2025 season didn’t get any better on Saturday at the Aragon GP, as he failed to score points in the sprint in 12th.

Despite qualifying fourth, Pecco Bagnaia says he continued to battle front locking under braking and ran wide at Turn 7 at one stage of the sprint as a result of this.

He remains at a loss on the factory Ducati, admitting “I don’t know what’s going wrong”.

When asked if he should test the GP24 on Monday at Aragon to better understand his problems, he suggested someone like Alex Marquez trying his bike would offer more benefit.

“I don’t know if that [testing the GP24] would be a good thing because I need to go with the ’25 and I cannot swap the bike,” he said.

“Mostly it could be more important for a rider who has a fresh feeling on the GP24 to ride the GP25.

“So, maybe Alex or Franky [Morbidelli] or [Fermin] Aldeguer, but Alex would be the best one to do this.

“But everyone is focused on improving and it’s difficult to do something like this.”

Pecco Bagnaia foresaw Aragon sprint struggle on Saturday morning

Bagnaia, who is now 84 points off championship leading team-mate Marc Marquez, admits he predicted his sprint to be a struggle from the problems he had on the bike in Saturday morning’s FP2 session.

“I was knowing that it would be difficult today because in the FP2 this morning, I was struggling, I wasn’t happy with my feeling,” he added.

“But qualifying I just gave a lot, risking a lot, and I started P4. Then in the race I just tried everything, but I wasn’t able to force.

“I was trying to brake hard but the front was locking a lot. I was understeering a lot, and it was really tough.

“Then I just went wide [at Turn 7] trying to copy and brake in the same place as the rider in front of me.

“But I started to lock and I went wide. I was stuck there and it was tough, really tough today.

“For tomorrow we have to try another different thing. We are trying everything, but something else, and hoping it will help a bit.

“Already the medium will help to have less understeering, but it will be tough.”

Bagnaia reiterated that his motorcycle is “very similar” to last year’s, “but the dynamics of the bike  are strange because I’m struggling a lot in braking”.

He also insisted that he and his team are remaining hand-in-hand through this difficult period.

“I don’t know why everyone starts asking if I am sticking together with my team,” he said.

“It is what it is. I know perfectly that we are all in the same boat and we are all working in the same direction - me on the bike, them off it, trying to figure out our problems, trying to help us because it’s critical not just for me but also for them that they are not understanding what is happening.”