Francesco Bagnaia can “help” Ducati “a lot for the future”, says Marc Marquez, despite the Italian’s difficulties in the 2025 MotoGP season.
Bagnaia won 11 grands prix in 2024, and titles in 2022 and 2023, but won only four times in 2025, including in Sprints, crashed from last place in the Indonesian Grand Prix, and didn’t finish any of the last five Sunday races.
It was a bizarre MotoGP season for Bagnaia, who was third in the riders’ standings for much of it, but who fell to fifth in his late-season slump as Marco Bezzecchi and Pedro Acosta grew stronger.
Bagnaia repeatedly complained of the same problems throughout 2025, notably a lack of front feeling. This led to him losing what has been his greatest strength in previous years: hard braking.
But despite his continuous issues, his factory Ducati teammate Marc Marquez still believes Bagnaia is central to Ducati’s MotoGP plans going forwards.
“We need Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] that comes back on his level because he’s super-sensitive on the bike and it will help a lot for the future,” Marquez told MotoGP.com.
“For me, the speed of Pecco is there, the speed is there, he is showing in some practices, in some races.
“I mean, in Motegi GP, what he did? He took 37 points, and I pushed and I was not able to catch him.
“Sometimes, only two months are enough to reset everything, so December and January will be the best time for Pecco to reset everything and restart in Malaysia test.”
