Pecco Bagnaia slams “indescribable” slump since Motegi MotoGP win

Ducati’s Pecco Bagnaia says his form slump since winning both races in Japan has been “indescribable”, following a crash out of 12th at the MotoGP Australian Grand Prix.

The double MotoGP world champion has endured a largely difficult 2025 season, but it has taken several turns for the worse since the summer break.

In the last four rounds, he has had three without scoring any points.

After making an apparent breakthrough at the Misano test, which led to a clean sweep at the Japanese Grand Prix, Pecco Bagnaia’s Indonesian and Australian Grand Prix weekends have been disasters.

Bagnaia was over 30s off the lead in second-to-last on Saturday at Phillip Island in the sprint, while a radical set-up shift for warm-up on Sunday didn’t give him any improvements.

Going in “the opposite direction” in set-up for the grand prix, Bagnaia felt like he was able to push more, but this also led to him crashing out of 12th on lap 24 of 27.

“For the warm-up, we tried something that turned out to be a disaster: it was impossible to ride like that,” he told Sky Italy, having battled stability issues all weekend.

“For the race, we went in the opposite direction, and it was something positive: I managed to push a bit more, even though I was truly at the limit.

“Unfortunately, I can’t brake and enter corners the way I’d like, but at least I was able to push and get closer to the riders ahead of me.

“A glimmer of hope, if you will, compared to yesterday and Indonesia. I don’t know if this change will help us in Malaysia, considering that Sepang is a bit of a unique track.

“This afternoon, we tried to find a more stable bike at the expense of lightness and agility: it was very tough to ride, but at least I could enter corners without all the problems from the warm-up.”

Both Bagnaia and Ducati insist that the bike he is riding now is the same one he was victorious on at the Japanese Grand Prix.

“Motegi, where we arrived after the good Misano test, showed that if I’m in the right condition, I can do well,” he said.

“What happened afterwards, from my point of view, is something unacceptable, almost indescribable, because you start with a bike that theoretically won the previous race, but you can’t push.

“You struggle a lot, you’re always at the limit. Same thing this weekend.”

Bagnaia also added that his “100%” was enough to win in Japan but would only have earned him a top 10 at Phillip Island.

“What happened from Austria onward? I wouldn’t know how to answer; I’d rather move on.

“We know it’s a tough year, and something isn’t adding up with the results we’ve achieved.

“A challenging situation. What I can do is always give 100%: in Japan, it was enough to win. Here, it would have at best gotten us into the top 10.”

Compounding Bagnaia’s woes was the fact Fabio Di Giannantonio, also on a GP25 Ducati, finished second in Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

Bagnaia has now also lost third in the standings to Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi.