Pecco Bagnaia tipped by Marc Marquez to change MotoGP fortunes
Francesco Bagnaia has “enough talent” to reverse his woeful recent MotoGP form, Marc Marquez says.
Francesco Bagnaia’s struggles in the 2025 MotoGP season reached a new low in Barcelona last weekend (5–7 September) when he qualified 21st, but Marc Marquez has backed the Italian to “jump from that hole”.
The Ducati Lenovo teammates were filmed talking in a car during the Catalan Grand Prix weekend, a conversation published in Ducati’s latest episode of its Inside behind-the-scenes YouTube series. Bagnaia explained the difficulties he’s finding with the Desmosedici GP25, while Marquez offered him some support.
Speaking ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano, Marquez explained that it is in his interests for Bagnaia to “come back to his level” because it will be important for Ducati’s MotoGP development.
“We are riders, and always you want to beat your teammate and you want to beat everybody, even if it’s your brother,” Marc Marquez told MotoGP.com ahead of the San Marino Grand Prix.
“But you don’t want to see anyone that is suffering like Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] right now.
“I think it will be important for the Ducati project that Pecco comes back step-by-step to his level because it will be better for testing, to develop the bike.
“He has his team, he has his people around him that of course will give very good advice but, in the end, it’s not easy for a rider when you are in a bad moment.
“It’s not easy, but it’s even more difficult when every day you are with journalists [asking] always the same question. Difficult to forget.
“But he has enough talent to jump from that hole.”
Francesco Bagnaia was open about his own appreciation for his chat with Marquez when he spoke to MotoGP.com on Thursday at Misano.
“When you have a rider like Marc [Marquez] speaking with you, you need to take any little details from the conversation because it’s important,” he said.
“It’s true that it’s a very tough period and the difficulties are increasing, considering from Austria to Barcelona, and we just need to be focused on the next ones just to be more competitive.”
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Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
