“Valentino Rossi’s group” blamed for Pecco Bagnaia “underestimating” Marc Marquez
One MotoGP paddock veteran had strong words for Pecco Bagnaia’s difficult 2025 season
Paolo Simoncelli, owner of the SIC58 Moto3 team, says Pecco Bagnaia “underestimated” Marc Marquez in 2025 because of bad advice from Valentino Rossi’s MotoGP camp.
The factory Ducati rider went from winning back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023, and narrowly missing a third in 2024 despite scoring 11 grands prix wins, to struggling to fifth in the standings in 2025.
Pecco Bagnaia managed just two wins in a wildly inconsistent 2025 season, as new Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez eased to his seventh MotoGP crown after 11 grands prix victories and 14 sprint successes.
Bagnaia struggled to adapt to the GP25, with many commenting that his difficulties were down to the mental pressure of being Marquez’s team-mate.
This is something both he and Ducati have repeatedly refuted.
Speaking to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Paolo Simoncelli believes Bagnaia was led to underestimating Marquez by the VR46 group around him.
“He wasn’t prepared for such a strong team-mate,” Simoncelli, father of the late Marco Simoncelli, said.
“Pecco comes from Valentino Rossi’s group, and after hearing everything they say in that group, he underestimated Marquez.
“The previous year, he lost the world championship despite winning 11 races.
“He thought: ‘All I have to do is crash less’. But Marc is a beast on the track, and that threw him into a crisis.”
When Ducati signed Marquez to the factory team for 2025, it was reported at the time that this had angered the VR46 group around Bagnaia.
Marquez and Rossi famously fell out towards the end of the 2015 season, beginning a feud that simmers to this day.
In the same interview, Simoncelli said Marquez reminded him of his late son, who was killed in a crash during the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix.
“I knew Marc was the strongest,” he said.
“I always liked him; he rides and thinks like my son, he never gives up and always tries.
“If Marco hadn’t died, we would have had a lot of fun. You know how sports fights are.”
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