Alex Marquez is the fourth rider on the MotoGP grid to receive a factory bike from Ducati for the upcoming season, and Francesco Bagnaia has now explained why it is ‘useful’ despite the Spaniard’s threat.
In the year After finishing his 2025 premier class campaign as the second best performing driver on the grid, Alex Marquez was awarded a factory bike from Ducati For the following word.
The top level of the platform was dominated by the Marquez brothers last year, however Francesco Bagnaia The GP25 struggled to find its footing in the most difficult terrain to work with.
Bagnaia has gone much better with the 2026-spec Ducati. But now, the two-time premier class champion is looking to return to the top of the MotoGP pecking order after slipping to fifth at the end of last year.
While Gresini The Italian rider welcomed the fact that he is expected to cause problems for his MotoGP rivals this year with factory machinery. Marquez Input through Objects Development.
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Francesco Bagnaia has revealed why Alex Marquez is ‘in favor’ of the factory Ducati bikes this season.
In an interview with the press on the eve of the 2026 MotoGP season-opener in Buriram, Bagnaia was asked about his thoughts on having another factory Ducati bike on the grid this year.
The two-time world champion answered through GPON“It’s helpful because Alex is a good developer, so I didn’t look at the data much during the test, so I don’t get distracted by opinions, but I prefer to focus on myself.”
Although he didn’t spend much time checking his rivals’ data, he was aware of the Spaniard’s incredible speed during the Sepang season.
Pedro Acosta predicted another ‘year of misery’ for himself. After seeing Marquez’s ‘terrible’ lap times at the Malaysian circuit, he emerged the fastest of all on the grid, including Bagnaia and his factory counterpart Marc Marquez.
What’s more? Jorge Lorenzo thinks Alex will be a serious competitor for the MotoGP crown Because of the powerful speed he showed there.
However, it’s clear that Bagnaia will be encouraged as the Gresini rider gathers valuable information for Ducati engineers over the GP26.
That means if the Italian returns to the disappointing form of his previous campaign in 2026, it opens the door for engineers to find a much quicker solution for him.
Predict the order of Ducati riders in the 2026 MotoGP rankings
Both Alex Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia are expected to leave the Ducati stable at the end of 2026.
Although there is a full season’s worth of racing between now and the start of the 2027 MotoGP season, the rider rider market is still in its infancy.
In the case of Bagnaia and Marquez, both look set to exit the Ducati umbrella in their new tenures.
Bagnaia has been tipped to sign a four-year contract with ApriliaMarko Bezecichin at the Nole-based outfit, in a switch that serves as a local rival to his former team.
on the other hand, Márquez is expected to join the factory KTM team for 2027Acosta could be paired with Maverick Vinales after it was revealed that he beat everyone to the punch with Marc in Borgo Pangale.
There has been no official confirmation of any of the driver’s activities yet, so it will be interesting to see if any further developments occur over the next few weeks.
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