Francesco Bagnaia has admitted he feels “out” of the 2025 MotoGP season after failing to challenge for the riders’ championship for the first time in his Ducati career.
The 29-year-old has finished first or second for the Cavaliers in each of his first four seasons with the Bulls of Bologna. But fifth place was just that. Bagnaya He can achieve it in 2025, because he finished 257 points away Ducati Teammate Mark Marquez He won the title.
When Bagnaia lifted the title in Japan after the first 17 rounds, he trailed Marquez by 267 points, good enough for the Italian to finish third at the time. Aprilia rider Marco Bezecchi and KTM’s Pedro Acosta bagnayan jumped ahead with 65 and 19 points respectively.
Marquez suffered a season-ending shoulder injury at the 18th round of the Indonesian Grand Prix, but Bagnaya reduced the deficit to the Spaniard to just 10 points. Bagnaia won the Sprint race in Malaysia from pole positionBut he failed to finish the last five Grands Prix.
Prove me wrong: Francesco Bagnaia Confidence is the first thing to improve.
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Francesco Bagnaia admits ‘could have done more’ to adapt to Ducati 2025 bike
Bagnaia finally completed his 2025 campaign with two Grand Prix wins to his name in the US and Japan. The native of Turin might have fought for victory in Malaysia but for the hole he suffered and his victory at COTA after Marquez crashed out of the lead.
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Bagnaia admitted he didn’t feel “very good” about how the year turned out as he could have done more to adapt to the Ducati bike, reflecting on his struggles last season. Ducati’s ride height device regularly troubled Bagnaya. Because of how his GP25 character has changed.
“I’m coming off four seasons where I always finished first or second,” Bagnaya said. Supernova Podcast. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the balance quickly enough in the series and I had a lot of flashes. I felt like I was more of an outsider than a regular contender for the title.
“I didn’t feel so good because I knew we could do more, which was me most of the time.
When I was second (in Malaysia), we were fighting for the win by driving tires. So, we also had some bad luck that hadn’t happened in I don’t know how long. But in my case, I live because everything serves as a lesson. Everything helps.
Francesco Bagnaia needs to regain his braking power on the Ducati 2026 bike.
Francesco Bagnaia will finish the MotoGP Championship in 2026
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Bagnaia lamented the problem with braking on the Ducati 2025 bikeFailing to show the same level of performance that led to the 2022 and 2023 titles. Not being able to get on the Ducati GP25 during qualifying caused a lot of trouble during the races.
While Bagnaia loves a late breaker and is one of the latest breakers on the grid, struggling in the pack has denied the Italian his biggest strength in 2025. The dirty air from the bikes in front meant Bagnaya had to brake early and build his way through the corners.
right now, Questions are growing over Bagnaia’s future with Ducati. His contract at Borgo Pangale expires at the end of the 2026 season. The 31-time premier class grand prix winner will allow the Ducati GP26 to regain his confidence.
