Francesco Bagnaia: Best advice and “hardest thing to accept” in MotoGP 2025

Francesco Bagnaia wasn’t short of advice or opinions as he endured the most turbulent season of his MotoGP career.

Ducati’s most successful MotoGP rider had been a world championship contender for the previous four years in a row, claiming the crown in 2022 and 2023.

Reigning champion Jorge Martin left Ducati for Aprilia, then suffered pre-season injuries, removing one potential 2025 title contender.

But in Martin’s place came a double-Marquez attack. Bagnaia's new factory team-mate Marc soon took control of the world championship, with Alex emerging as best of the rest on a year-old Gresini GP24.

Meanwhile, aside from capitalising on Marc’s COTA mistake, Bagnaia settled into an early 'third best' scenario, as he struggled to adapt to the handling characteristics of the GP25.

Rather than steady progress, Bagnaia’s highs and lows then dramatically escalated after the summer break.

A perplexing season finished with three wins but also ten non-scores (including six DNFs) from the final 14 races, causing the Italian to slip from third to fifth in the world championship.

“The hardest thing to accept”

“In these kinds of periods, many people want to give advice,” Bagnaia reflected at the Valencia finale.

“Honestly, I think the one that helped the most - which I was already trying to do  - was to enjoy. Sometimes it's better to forget the problems and just enjoy riding.

“Another good one was to change your objectives.

“Before, a good result was winning, and a bad result was finishing third. Now, a good result is finishing in the top five. So I needed to change a bit the objectives because of the situation.”

Bagnaia, a winner of 31 MotoGPs, admitted that the hardest task was accepting that he couldn’t repeat the front-end feeling from previous seasons.

“The main thing for me this season was just to accept not feeling okay on my bike and not being able to fight for what I know that I can fight for," he said. “So this was the hardest thing to accept. 

"But also, trying to enjoy was a good thing.”

Bagnaia - who said he only felt fully comfortable on the GP25 during his shock double victory at Motegi - claimed a post-season victory by winning Valentino Rossi’s 100km of Champions dirt track race, alongside Augusto Fernandez, on Saturday.