Why Alvaro Bautista thinks he had it harder than Nicolo Bulega at WorldSBK peak
Alvaro Bautista believes he had it tougher at the peak of WorldSBK than Nicolo Bulega has it now.
The period of WorldSBK dominated by Alvaro Bautista was more difficult than the current season, which is being dominated by Nicolo Bulega, the Spaniard believes.
Bautista won back-to-back WorldSBK titles with Ducati in 2022 and 2023, winning 27 of 36 races in the latter season. In the middle of that, he equalled Jonathan Rea the record at the time for the number of consecutive race wins at 11.
Bulega, on the other hand, has finished runner-up in the past two seasons to Toprak Razgatlioglu, beating Bautista – to whom he was teammate – in both instances. This year, he’s won every race, and leads the championship by 95 points after the opening five rounds aboard the new-for-2026 Ducati Panigale V4 R.
Bulega’s win streak stretches back to Race 2 at Estoril last year, meaning it now stands at 19 races, a record by six over Razgatlioglu’s benchmark of 13 set twice, in 2024 and 2025.
Since Razgatlioglu moved to MotoGP over the winter, Bulega has been effectively peerless at the front of WorldSBK, even if his new teammate, Iker Lecuona, has finished second in the past 12 races in succession.
But it’s this peerlessness that Bautista thinks proves the Italian’s dominance of the production derivative series has come about with less difficulty than his own three-to-four years ago, the Spaniard having done almost all of his winning against the likes of the aforementioned Rea and Razgatlioglu when they were both riding at or near their best.
“The positive thing for him [Bulega] is that he has no one really putting pressure on him,” Alvaro Bautista said on Saturday at the Hungarian WorldSBK, as reported by Italian publication GPOne. Bulega’s win streak stood at 14 at the time.
“He has a good lead, so he can ride calmly and without taking risks.
“I remember when I won 11 races: I had rivals who pushed me to the limit, like Toprak [Razgatlioglu] and Rea, so it was harder to maintain that consistency.
“This year, however, he has no real rivals. When you can push without pressure, everything becomes easier.
“Still, it’s never easy to win so many races: you have to start well, avoid mistakes, and bring home every race.”
Bautista, of course, remains on the WorldSBK grid in 2026, having moved to the Barni Ducati team where he has scored one podium this year.
That the Spaniard is among the field not rivalling Bulega this year means the Italian feels his former teammate’s comments are insulting, but not to him.
“He’s insulting himself, because he races against me,” Bulega said, as reported by GPOne when Bautista’s comments were put to him on Sunday in Hungary.
“So I don’t think that’s a very smart thing to say.”
Bautista’s ability to challenge Bulega in 2026 took a hit in Czechia when he crashed in FP3 and fractured his right foot and ankle.
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
