Ducati MotoGP boss Davide Tardozzi says Ducati is still supportive of Francesco Bagnaia, who remains “one of the most important” riders for the Italian brand, despite his difficulties in 2025.
Bagnaia won 11 grands prix in 2024, and finished in the top-two in the riders’ standings in each of the four seasons previous to 2025.
But the 2025 MotoGP season itself was a nightmare for Bagnaia, who finished the season fifth in the standings, retired from each of the last five grands prix, and won only two Sunday races and two Sprints across the 22 rounds.
The Italian complained of similar issues for the whole season, mainly about front feeling; he couldn’t brake as he wanted, and couldn’t carry speed in fast corners.
For Ducati Lenovo Team manager Davide Tardozzi, Ducati’s inability to solve Bagnaia’s issues with the 2025 bike, and Bagnaia’s consequent inability to perform as he had in previous years, was “a shame”.
“It’s obvious that it’s a shame that Pecco [Francesco Bagnaia] couldn’t perform in the proper way, like we are sure that we can,” Tardozzi told MotoGP.com.
“He did a good start of the season, in some ways, he did an incredible race in Japan, but we faced problems in other races that let him not perform how he can.
“So, in the end we have a balance that is good because we won everything but we are really taking care to what is not working good that is Pecco.”
Tardozzi added that Bagnaia’s struggles were “painful” for him in 2025, and that Ducati is still supportive of the Italian ahead of the 2026 season.
“Painful is the right word because I love Pecco,” Tardozzi said.
“Pecco is one of the most, or the most, important riders for Ducati because he won two titles for us and 31 races, so he deserves our maximum help.
“Sometimes, we were not able to give him, but in other ways we know that we tried hard, and Gigi [Dall’Igna], Ducati Corse, all Ducati Corse tried hard to solve this problem, but somehow he didn’t find the right feeling with this bike this year.
“But we are looking forward and working together with him to try to have a completely different 2026.”
