Pecco Bagnaia has been forgetting “useless” past to transform 2025 MotoGP form

Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia says he has been able to make steps in recent MotoGP rounds to improve his feeling on the GP25 because he has “stopped comparing last year to this year”.

The double world champion comes into the last round before the summer break in Czechia 147 points adrift of championship leading team-mate Marc Marquez.

Struggling throughout the campaign to find confidence in the front end of the GP25, Pecco Bagnaia has won just one grand prix from the opening 11.

But in recent rounds he feels has been able to make a step forward in finding what he needs from the Ducati, which he says has been possible by forgetting what happened in 2024 as it became “useless” to his mechanics.

“I more or less stopped comparing last year to this year,” he said on Thursday at Brno.

“I know what the potential of last year was but right now it’s not there.

“So, it was quite useless to speak about it also with the team. I just tried to do more laps, even if my feeling wasn’t the best with what I was trying.

“And this made our lives easier because the team can analyse things better.

“So, it’s much easier for everybody and the atmosphere is better.

“It’s true that the results arriving are not what we want, but we need to understand now we have to take everything in a positive way and work step by step to be back to the limit.”

How does Pecco Bagnaia rate his 2025 season?

Asked to rate his 2025 season so far, Bagnaia gave himself a low score but says he considers that from the previous three rounds rather than the campaign as a whole.

“I don’t want to consider last year, because if I consider last year it’s like 5 [out of 10],” he said.

“But for the start of the season and the problems we figured out in the middle of these 11 races, I think I can give to myself a six.

“I think I worked well in some situations. In others maybe I was a bit too nervous.

“But sometimes it’s a bit better to relax, speak well with your team and try to restart and try to work well, to analyse and make steps in front.

“And in the last three GPs we did that. So, I evaluate more the last three GPs than the first part where we had a bit of chaos.

“The last three GPs I’m quite happy with the job we’ve done with my team.”

On whether he expected the season he has had after the first tests, he added: “No. But the season is not finished yet, so maybe I can bounce back in the second half of the season.

“It’s true that in the test, in Malaysia, I was happy with the feeling on my bike.

“Then we arrived in Thailand and we started to have many difficulties. Two riders just did a better job than me from the start of the season.

“Other riders have had some races where they did a bit better than us. But it’s true the potential till now was to finish third, and I’m third in the championship.

“So, what I just tried to understand was take a step back, analyse things better and change a bit the approach, knowing that winning right now is more complicate.

“We need to work more to get back to what I think is my level. But I wasn’t expecting to struggle this way in the first half of the season.”