Pecco Bagnaia: "With Marquez in the garage, you have two options

Pecco Bagnaia is enjoying a quiet winter after the 2025 MotoGP season. The Ducati rider took part in Alessandro Cattelan’s “Supernova” podcast, where he revealed some behind-the-scenes details about what happened in the last championship and about his relationship with Marc Marquez, his teammate.

2025 was one of the worst years for Pecco Bagnaia. In 2021 he came close to clinching the world title, in 2022 and 2023 he won two MotoGP titles, in 2024 he narrowly missed the hat-trick. Then came a season below all expectations, finishing 5th in the final standings due to a poor feeling with the Desmosedici GP25. For now, the Piedmontese rider is waiting for the official presentation of the Lenovo Ducati team and will then head to Malaysia, the stage for the first winter test. "I had four seasons where I always finished first or second. This year, unfortunately, we weren’t able to find the balance to be consistently fast and I had more flashes of brilliance than anything. I felt more like an outsider than a title contender."

The VR46 Academy pupil doesn’t pin the blame on the bike, but takes his share of responsibility. "I acknowledge we could have done more. In certain cases I was the one who didn’t make the right play at the right time," Bagnaia emphasized. "There were also some unlucky episodes. [...] If I find myself in a similar situation next championship, I’ll be better prepared."

The road started to get uphill right after the MotoGP winter tests. Then qualifying problems compromised many Grands Prix. "When you start up front, you only have a few bikes to overtake. This completely changes the braking approach compared to having 15 in front of you because of the air tunnels. It completely changes the way you ride; I wasn’t used to it. This year I found myself further back more often, so much so that I called it ‘the madhouse.’ It makes you understand how a tenth of a second per lap can make a huge difference."

Pecco Bagnaia also spoke about his relationship with Marc Marquez in the Ducati garage. "I’ve never had major problems; I get along with everyone. If you have a rider with Marc Marquez’s charisma in the box, you have two options: either you clash with him directly or you get along. He had a calm attitude, he understood the team dynamics and we had the chance to get to know each other better. The relationship was excellent."

The engineers from Borgo Panigale have followed and will continue to follow different paths for the two riders. "This year we’re working with two different fairing specs: I prefer the bike’s agility, while he prefers it more rear-oriented," concluded the two-time MotoGP champion.