Pecco Bagnaia urged to work with sports psychologist by MotoGP legend

Three-time MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo believes Pecco Bagnaia needs to work with a sports psychologist to get out of the slump he suffered in 2025.

The double world champion was expected to offer a strong rivalry to Marc Marquez at Ducati this year, having come off a 2024 campaign in which he won 11 grands prix and missed a third title by just 10 points.

But Pecco Bagnaia struggled with a lack of confidence in the front-end of his GP25 from the off and was wildly inconsistent.

He won just twice in 2025, scored nothing in the final five grands prix, and ended up 257 points behind Marquez in the standings in fifth.

Both Ducati and Bagnaia were at a loss to explain his issues, with various set-up alterations seemingly doing nothing to point him in the right direction.

Lorenzo urges Bagnaia to learn from him

Jorge Lorenzo believes Bagnaia could benefit from working with a sports psychologist, as he did during his career, to help “rediscover his positivity”.

“Bagnaia was in a perfect position at Ducati: two-time world champion, Italian, Italian bike, number one,” Lorenzo told Moto.it.

“Marquez arrived and immediately went faster, and that makes you nervous, lose confidence, start to doubt a lot, and lose enthusiasm.

“In my opinion, Pecco has lost this self-confidence and enthusiasm; he's a bit too negative.

“He needs to regain his cheerfulness right away; otherwise, he risks having difficulties with his next contract.

“Let's hope that having three months of vacation, trying out a somewhat new bike, will do him good.

“Taking a break, having time to detach himself from negative thoughts.

“But I think Bagnaia needs someone to help him from outside: some coaches, Valentino from VR46, going to a sports psychologist.

“I've done it at certain points in my career, many have.

“He needs to rediscover his positivity, his enthusiasm. Pecco is at least as good as Alex Marquez, not inferior.”

Lorenzo added: “You have to be humble, have no ego, and say: look, I have a problem, I'm going to try.

“Maybe you go to a psychologist, and it won't change anything, or maybe it will.

“Andrea Dovizioso, for example, in 2017, before the MotoGP World Championship, started working with a psychologist, and it changed his way of thinking; he started to have more self-confidence.

“He was the same rider; his technique hadn't changed, but his mindset and his convictions had changed.”