Alvaro Bautista, envied, feared and penalized: "I could have retired, but I don't want regrets"

The move to the Barni team, the minimum weight rule in Superbike, and much more in the interview Corsedimoto did with Alvaro Bautista.

41 years old, still a strong desire to race and be a protagonist. In 2026 Alvaro Bautista will once again be on the World Superbike grid, but with the colors of the Barni Spark Racing Team and the new Panigale V4 R. He will enjoy Ducati’s technical support and fully intends to fight for important results. He explained it at the team presentation by Marco Barnabò event and reiterated it in the interview he gave us at Corsedimoto.

“There are many changes, I’m very excited and pumped to take on this challenge. It certainly won’t be easy at the start, because I’m arriving in a new team after many years with Aruba Ducati and it will take some time to build relationships with the people in the box and to get used to the new working method. I don’t have any particular expectations in mind, also because there will be a new model of the Panigale V4 R and we’ll need to discover its potential. In terms of results I don’t want to set any goals now, because I don’t know what we will manage to achieve. Surely, the desire to do well and to show that I’m competitive is there.”

In November you said you wouldn’t mind pulling off a feat like winning the Superbike title with an independent team.

“That’s what I’m here for, to win. Barni Spark Racing Team is a growing squad, they improve their results every year and I think in 2026 they’ll make another step. I feel ready to give my all, and if I want to keep racing it’s because physically and mentally I feel at the top to try to win. Then we’ll see, there are many changes, but that’s the mindset. There will also be official support from Ducati, a very important factor for me. I don’t think I’ll do worse than in recent years, I think I should be able to fight for the podium in every race. Anyway, I don’t want to create expectations until I start working with the team and the new bike. We need to understand how to be fast, I’m convinced we’ll get there, but I don’t know how long it will take.”

“It wasn’t a performance test, we tried a few things for Ducati. Still, the first sensations were very positive, also because the bike’s character is still that Ducati feel, there hasn’t been an upheaval. But it’s true that maybe with the double-sided swingarm there’s a fairly big step forward; right away I felt very comfortable without changing anything on the bike. My feeling is that switching to the double-sided swingarm brought an improvement compared to the weaknesses that were there with the single-sided one. The initial feeling was positive, then we’ll have to see how it goes when we start to push hard and work more on the bike.”

“First of all, we need to start working together and understanding each other with my crew chief, the mechanics, and the other people in the Barni Spark Racing Team. As for the bike, since it’s new, we’ll start with a standard Ducati base: I’ll try to adapt and then we’ll look to make some not-too-big changes, because winter tests can be misleading. Temperatures are low, the bike behaves differently and the tires work differently compared to race weekends. Our idea isn’t to be fast from day one; it’s more important to understand the new Panigale V4 R well and build a good feeling to ride as comfortably as possible. When you’re at ease, you can push more when it’s necessary to do so. At the Jerez test we’ll try not to make many changes. The goal is to ride and find feeling both with the bike and with the team. Also, I need to find my rhythm again, since I haven’t ridden a Superbike since the last race of 2025. There are many things to do before looking for the limit.”

“For me it’s not a fair rule and the other riders agree with me, but it’s the manufacturers who make the rules of the championship. I expected FIM and Dorna to be on the riders’ side, since we are the ones who race and risk our lives. We know what happens when there’s more inertia on the bike: it pushes you wide in the corners, it can cause more crashes and generally brings more risks. FIM and Dorna always try to have more safety on track, so I expected them to push the manufacturers to change the regulations. Unfortunately, apart from Ducati, they’re not willing to do so. I don’t know why they’re afraid to remove this rule, since I am the only rider on the grid penalized for my physique. Nothing changes for their riders, it only changes for me. Maybe they’re still afraid of me, I don’t know. In the last two championships the title fight was between two big riders. I’m not fighting this battle just for me, but for all the smaller riders, because in this championship there’s no room for us. Now no manufacturer and no team wants light riders. I’ll give my all for Barni, to whom I’m grateful for the trust they’ve placed in me.”

“With Ducati the package is more competitive and we managed to put everything in place to win. They tried to penalize Ducati and, when they saw that even penalizing it they still couldn’t stop me, they decided to penalize me directly. It’s fair to try to create a balance among the manufacturers on the grid, but without aiming to stop a single rider.”

“I could have stayed home, having won races and world championships, because I don’t need to race anymore. The problem is that I like it, I feel competitive, and I feel I can win. I don’t want to stop and then have regrets for not trying again. Why should I stop doing something I enjoy because of a rule? I don’t want to stay home because of a decision by other people who wanted to saddle me with ballast.”

“Barni is working a lot with his supplier to position the ballast so that it bothers me as little as possible. But the extra 7 kilos remain. I still don’t know whether with the new bike I’ll feel this extra weight more or less, but we’re working to try to distribute it differently. Then it also depends on the needs of a specific track whether to place it in one spot or another. Having more weight will always be a disadvantage, but I’m confident, because the Barni team is working hard to help me.”

“I remember that when I arrived in Superbike and started winning, not everyone liked it. I think in 2019 many riders were envious seeing how I came into the championship. Then they always looked for excuses to justify the fact that I was winning and they weren’t. First they said the Ducati Superbike was practically a MotoGP bike, then they latched onto the weight. There was always a reason to justify my victories, without ever highlighting the fact that I had been better than them. Everyone knows the reality, we saw it on track. I’m very happy with what I’ve done and how I’ve done it. I care about the opinion of the people close to me; the others can think what they want.”

“Surely there are more Grands Prix in MotoGP, but in Superbike there are three races per weekend and that’s stressful both physically and mentally. I started changing my type of training in my last year in MotoGP, doing shorter and more intense aerobic sessions. In my career I had already done a lot of aerobic work, so I had a good base. In addition, I started doing important mental work. Doing three races per weekend is very demanding; you have to reset from one race to the next. The mental aspect is what I focused on the most, and I think the results have been good.”

“On paper, Bulega is the favorite for the world title. If Toprak hadn’t been there, he would have won the last two years. For me, having the ballast, it was harder to fight. We have to see how all the changes this year will play out. Vierge has gone to Yamaha and did some very good tests. Let’s see what Petrucci can do with BMW, where there’s also Oliveira, who will be an unknown since he’s coming from many years of MotoGP. Let’s also see how long it takes the two new Honda riders, coming from MotoGP and Moto2 respectively, to understand the SBK bike and tires. It’ll be a very interesting championship because there are many new elements. The only clear thing is Bulega as the favorite; the rest is a question mark.”

“He had the opportunity to go to MotoGP and he took it; it’s understandable that he wanted to try. But that championship is very different from SBK: bikes, tires, tracks, riders… Also, over there if you complain, nobody cares; you just have to focus on pushing harder. I don’t know what to expect from him. Clearly, Toprak is a rider with a lot of talent and great bike control. The first year will be very difficult, because he’ll have a lot to learn. We’ll see how he does.”