Pecco Bagnaia, mystery solved: here’s the real problem with the GP25

Pecco Bagnaia is about to close one of the worst years of his professional career. For the two-time MotoGP champion, Ducati’s “Championi in festa” event was anything but a celebration. He finished fifth in the overall standings, with four consecutive retirements at the end of the season and almost half the points of his teammate Marc Marquez. And this despite the Spaniard missing the final four GPs of the championship.

Despite numerous changes to his Desmosedici GP25, Pecco Bagnaia did not find the solutions he was looking for. At times he saw a ray of sunshine, like at Motegi, where he won both the Sprint and the race. Crashes, tire issues, poor front-end feeling: each time a problem plagued his MotoGP weekends, to the point of putting his Ducati seat for 2027 at risk. The 2026 season will begin with many unknowns, but one certainty: mistakes are forbidden from the very start of the Championship, or the rider market will be ruthless.

The winter tests will be crucial to dial in the new bike. And perhaps the rider from Piedmont has identified the root of the problems. “The mistake was starting from the idea that my potential with the GP24 was really high.” An excess of self-confidence, built up after what happened the previous year, may have conditioned the entire season. “It wasn’t about adapting to the GP25; it was more about finding the feeling I had with it, but it never came,” admits Pecco Bagnaia, who takes full responsibility for his actions.

The problems began at Jerez, a circuit he knows very well, but where he couldn’t perform as he wanted. Although he ended the year with another crash in Valencia, the subsequent MotoGP test left him with positive feelings for next season. Even if everything will still need to be fine-tuned during the Sepang tests. “Everything comes back. Honestly, my composure has remained pretty much intact, because in the situations where things went well for me, I was where I knew I needed to be. So I know the potential is there, I know the speed hasn’t disappeared. I just have to work to regain that feeling.”

Photo Michelin Motorsport