**Title: Ducati’s Dilemma: Navigating Team Orders After Bagnaia-Marquez Aragon Collision**

Should Ducati intervene following the incident between Bagnaia and Alex Marquez?

Podcast: "Is there some uncertainty because the season isn't advanced enough to tell other Ducati riders, 'you're no longer in contention, so back off in such situations'?"

During Sunday’s Aragon MotoGP, a contentious incident in the closing stages of the race between Francesco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez resulted in both Ducati racers being eliminated from contention for the final podium position.

As a result, reigning champion Bagnaia, who had come to Spain with a five-point lead in the title race, departed injured and trailing Jorge Martin by 23 points.

In the most recent episode of the Crash.net MotoGP podcast, the host, Jordan Moreland, posed the question:

The highlight of the race was Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez fighting for a spot on the podium. Bagnaia seemed poised to overtake Marquez; it was just a question of when. But then, an unexpected incident occurred.

“What did you think about the situation? I believe it happened not too long ago. Clearly, both riders are pointing fingers at each other…”

"Bagnaia experienced a dreadful weekend. It marked his poorest performance since the Sprint format was introduced last year," commented Pete McLaren, editor at Crash.net MotoGP.

Almost everything fell apart for him: two tire problems, starting from the less favorable side of the track during qualifying, and to top it all off, a crash when it seemed like he was moments away from overtaking Alex Marquez for third place.

"Clearly, Alex was competing in front of his local supporters and aiming to possibly share the podium with Marc during his remarkable return. Therefore, it's understandable that he was reluctant to concede, and ultimately, there simply wasn't sufficient space for both of them."

The issue now is, who noticed the other first? And who was responsible for making more space? The Stewards decided not to take any further measures. They mentioned reviewing some data from the machines, though the specifics remain unclear.

“The data aspect was intriguing because, according to Pecco’s comments after the verdict, the data indicated that Alex perhaps didn’t decelerate as much as one would anticipate from a rider involved in a crash.”

"When two riders from the same team are involved in an accident, the manufacturer has access to the data for both. This is precisely what Ducati would have done in this situation. It's known that they did the same after the incident in Portimao, where Marc Marquez and Bagnaia crashed into each other. Marc casually mentioned that Ducati could review all the data to determine who was responsible."

"Pecco now claims that the data indicates he was not at fault. Did the Stewards have access to this information? If they had reviewed what Pecco mentions, would their decision have been different? It's uncertain."

"Another helpful feature would have been a 'visor cam' perspective, similar to what we saw from Alex Rins during the private Misano test, to see exactly where each rider was focusing their attention."

A racing event occurred with significant consequences. Pecco benefited from Marc preventing Martin from securing the highest points this weekend. Fortunately, both Pecco and Alex Marquez escaped without serious injuries.

Moreland asked, "Lewis, what do you think about it?"

“I'll challenge the use of data by playing Devil's advocate for a moment. Whenever someone mentions data, my mind goes back to Honda in 2015. They were convinced they had data proving that Valentino had kicked Marc and were ready to present it to everyone!” stated MotoGP journalist Lewis Duncan.

"However, if I were to assign blame, I would attribute a bit more of it to Pecco. This isn't the first time we've observed this behavior; it was evident in Portugal and, to some extent, during the Sprint race in Jerez. Pecco appears to struggle with choosing the right moments to engage in battles."

"We witnessed a similar situation with Marc in Portugal. Even if you couldn't visibly see him, you knew he would re-enter the track, so why position your bike there? It's clear that would result in a collision. You should handle the corner more strategically."

"At Jerez, he found himself caught between Bezzecchi and Brad Binder. He was faster than both of them, so he should have pulled out instead of getting into a tussle. The same situation occurred this time as well."

"It’s clear Alex didn’t check his surroundings. He was trailing Alex when he veered off course at Turn 12. It's evident he’s unaware of your presence. You know Turn 13 is a tight spot, especially when you switch to the right. Alex will very likely be in that area."

"I believe that to be a strong competitor, you need to approach the game more strategically. In my opinion, Alex should have been more aware of his surroundings and thought, 'This is going to be close. I'll pull back and look for another opportunity to make my move.' Pecco could have taken a similar approach, thinking, 'There's still time left. I can accomplish this later.'"

"In each instance I referred to, Pecco has ended up suffering the most and has lost points because of it. I believe Ducati should have a conversation with Pecco to advise him on choosing his battles wisely when interacting with other riders. They should emphasize that securing a 4th place finish is preferable to ending the race with no points at all."

"Pecco seems to occasionally have difficulty accepting the position available to him. In contrast, if you observe Martin's performance in recent weeks, he has consistently taken second place when that's what was achievable. As a result, he now leads the championship by 23 points."

Moreland responded by saying, "Pete, this situation is similar to what happened last season with Bagnaia and Vinales at Le Mans. It's unfortunate timing, especially since Martin is performing flawlessly and accumulating points."

McLaren addressed the issue that everyone dislikes: team orders. He pointed out that it's inevitable to compare Sunday's race to previous years when other Ducati riders were aware they needed to allow more space for the title contenders.

"Currently, there's some uncertainty since the season hasn't progressed enough to tell the other Ducati riders they're mathematically out of contention and should therefore hold back in such scenarios."

"Perhaps Pecco and Martin believe that, since they are leading in the championship, other Ducati riders will give them more space. However, those other riders are still racing aggressively for every spot, thinking, 'We haven't received any instructions to back off yet.'"

"Another consideration is what advice to give Marc Marquez and Bastianini, who are slightly trailing the leading pair but still have a viable opportunity."

Duncan mentioned that Ducati should consider this issue for its own benefit. He pointed out that they wouldn't want a repeat incident between Alex Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia, which could result in Martin gaining more points while Marc leads the pack.

"We've witnessed how toxic the fan base can become in such scenarios, believing things like 'this happened, sabotage and so on'."

"Ducati should take the lead by declaring: 'These are our title contenders. These are the riders who can secure the championship. If you're not among them, don't push them too hard in races.'"

"We definitely want to avoid this scenario. It's a worst-case situation for Ducati if Martin is leading the championship. They can't afford to let Martin switch to Aprilia while holding the top spot."

"I found it intriguing to observe Gigi Dall’Igna's reaction after Marc finished the race. He appeared quite… distressed. It seemed like he was burdened by something."

"He did not appear pleased. It seemed as though he observed the situation and thought: Pecco is out of contention, Marc is securing victories – a concern they had about disrupting the balance before permitting him to join Gresini initially – and Martin is at the top of the championship standings."

"They should consider that they could have had both of these riders in their team if the circumstances had been handled another way, and if Marc had been willing to join Pramac."

"Ducati has several issues to address in the coming weeks, and a key concern is better handling the current situation. If they don't, they risk facing significant embarrassment by the end of the season."

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