Bagnaia and Marquez: Ducati’s Dream Duo or Potential Disaster for 2025 MotoGP Season?

Pecco Bagnaia: Having Marc Marquez as a teammate? "Could be amazing, or a total mess!"

Francesco Bagnaia: "It might turn out to be incredible or a complete disaster! We'll find out next year."

Ducati's team for the 2025 MotoGP season, featuring Francesco Bagnaia and newly recruited Marc Marquez, has been praised by team principal Gigi Dall’Igna as 'the greatest team in Ducati's history.'

This team undoubtedly has the most accomplished roster possible from the existing lineup, featuring a total of eleven riders’ world championships, which would increase to twelve if Bagnaia secures his third consecutive MotoGP title this season.

The closest Ducati lineup in terms of titles is the Valentino Rossi and Nicky Hayden duo from 2011-2012, which boasted ten championships. Eight of these were in the top-tier category, equaling the current total of Bagnaia and Marquez.

The relationship between teammates Rossi and Hayden was quite distinct from that of Bagnaia and Marquez. Hayden, the American rider, had already secured his championship title with Honda four years prior, whereas Ducati had been struggling to keep up ever since Casey Stoner clinched the championship in 2007.

In 2025, Ducati's roster will feature a direct competition between the grid's most triumphant racer, Marquez, and the reigning MotoGP champion, Bagnaia, sidelining Jorge Martin, Enea Bastianini, and Marco Bezzecchi.

Bagnaia mentioned to MotoGP.com that he believes Ducati altered their approach by focusing on nurturing young riders and offering them a chance to join the factory team, but then they chose Marc, who holds the most titles.

"Marc is definitely going to be very competitive because he's already incredibly fast, and next year he'll have access to the best equipment. Similar to what he has now, but wearing red will certainly boost his drive to be the best."

Next, the statement that undoubtedly caught the attention of Dall’Igna and other top Ducati executives, despite being delivered with a grin:

"I believe it could either turn out extremely well or be a complete failure! We’ll have to wait until next year to find out. It could go badly if we end up yelling or getting into arguments."

"However, I believe that both of us are quite intelligent, and he will adjust seamlessly."

Despite a lack of recent confrontations between Bagnaia and Marquez, aside from issues with slipstreaming, the two riders collided during the second round in Portimao, causing both to crash.

Bagnaia ultimately won after a collision with Marquez during their battle for the win at Jerez, whereas Marquez managed to overtake Bagnaia for second place in the closing moments at Le Mans.

Marquez, who is now riding a year-old GP23 for Gresini, has not contended for a win since then.

In the meantime, Bagnaia described the exit of current championship leader Martin (moving from Pramac to Aprilia), his current team-mate Enea Bastianini (heading to Tech3 KTM), and VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi (also joining Aprilia) as a 'significant setback' for Ducati.

"It's a significant setback to lose three racers of their caliber, as it means other manufacturers will gain three extremely quick riders. This adds three more competitors for us, but we won't have access to their data," Bagnaia explained.

This weekend’s Austrian MotoGP sees the Italian rider beginning the race only three points behind Martin, while Bastianini has moved up to third in the world championship standings, taking over from Marc Marquez following his two wins at Silverstone.

Bagnaia looked back on the early season, noting, "The initial segment of the season, specifically the first 3-4 races, did not go as planned. Although I secured a victory in Qatar, we faced difficulties in Austin and Portimao. During the tests, we overlooked some aspects that needed attention. We didn't fully complete our tasks due to the heavy workload. However, we managed to wrap things up in Jerez by Friday."

"Up until now, we faced some challenges. I was not very pleased with the new motorcycle, which made things difficult. However, we made significant improvements. We secured a victory in Jerez, and then at Le Mans, I was competing for the win once more. I also won the most recent races before Silverstone, and my connection with the bike is getting better."

“We've figured out how to handle this bike. We've made significant progress and intend to keep it up. We're nearly perfect with the new bike, but there are still a few minor details we need to address.”

In general, Bagnaia believes that the 2022 model of the Desmosedici, which helped him close a 91-point gap to defeat Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and secure his first MotoGP championship, was the best motorcycle he has ridden in MotoGP to date.

“The GP24 is a blend of the models from 22 and 23. However, I believe the 22 is still superior at this moment. In my opinion, it was the best bike I've ever ridden in MotoGP,” he stated.

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