Pecco Bagnaia’s “humiliating” Australia MotoGP sprint highlighted in pace analysis

Pecco Bagnaia endured his worst sprint finish of the season at the Australian Grand Prix

Pecco Bagnaia, Ducati Corse, 2025 Australian MotoGP
Pecco Bagnaia, Ducati Corse, 2025 Australian MotoGP
© Gold and Goose

Pecco Bagnaia’s already difficult 2025 MotoGP season hit a fresh low on Saturday in the Australian Grand Prix sprint, as he struggled to 19th on his factory Ducati.

The double world champion didn’t start the Phillip Island weekend off in the best way, but showed solid race pace during Friday afternoon’s Practice session.

But Pecco Bagnaia’s weekend took a turn for the worse on Saturday morning, as he slumped to 11th in qualifying and earned a three-place grid penalty for impeding.

Bagnaia dropped a position on the opening lap to 12th, before fading further to 16th come the third tour.

On lap five, he was at the back of the field in 20th, with only temporary Ducati team-mate Michele Pirro behind him. Bagnaia would take the chequered flag in 19th, 32.408s off sprint winner Marco Bezzecchi.

LapsMB72FD49PB63
21m27.504s1m28.045s1m29.752s
327.31228.03630.455
427.13428.0530.404
527.36928.10831.789
628.42427.60929.824
727.12227.68430.36
827.21327.70830.063
927.72427.83530.222
1027.5527.50929.502
1127.67327.76729.477
1227.56827.78829.265
1328.12828.4229.658
Average pace1m27.560s1m27.880s1m30.064s
Pace difference-0.320s2.504s

Bagnaia’s average pace was 2.504s slower per lap than that of Aprilia’s Bezzecchi, who had to make an overtake for the lead, as well as a recovery from an error on lap six of 13.

For the first time in the sprint era, no Ducati rider featured on the podium, with VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio the brand’s leading competitor just off the rostrum in fifth.

Riding the same GP25 as Bagnaia, Di Giannantonio was on average 2.184s quicker per lap than Bagnaia was. Bagnaia’s average pace on Friday on a soft rear worked out at 1m27.950s, while in the sprint it was 1m30.064s.

“Difficult to accept” continued struggles, says Bagnaia

Bagnaia branded his sprint “humiliating” to Sky Sports Italy, as he battled stability issues across the 13-lap contest.

It is a situation that has been further magnified by his run to victory at the Japanese Grand Prix a few weeks ago on a bike he maintains is “theoretically” the same.

"Today's sprint was quite humiliating, being there and not being able to fight, not being able to do anything, lapping two seconds slower than my own pace in practice," he said.

Speaking later, he added: “It’s very difficult to accept and disappointing, to me but also to the team, because we are working a lot.

“We are not understanding the situation well, honestly.

“Not just me, but also them, because I don’t want to say that we were strong like in Motegi, but we were competitive enough to finish in the top five.

“Then, in qualifying, I started to feel strange, and then in the sprint race I was struggling a lot to be close, even close to my pace from the rest of the weekend.

“So, we are just trying to understand what is happening.”

Bagnaia noted: "In the end, we came to the conclusion that it's not a matter of set-up or electronics, but something else entirely. 

"So, we're looking for what's making the bike not work properly. But it's something that's beyond the team's capabilities. We're sort of nitpicking, and it's never easy to find it."

In his debrief with the media on Saturday afternoon, Bagnaia also said he was sure team-mate Marc Marquez would have gotten onto the podium had he been present.

“In the sprint, I was a passenger. That’s all.

“I had to close the throttle several times to prevent the bike from shaking.

“If Marc was here, he’d probably be on the podium. But I can’t get the bike to stop moving.”

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