‘What I Want from My Bike Isn’t There Anymore’ – Bagnaia Changes Winning Formula to Take On Marquez
Pecco Bagnaia admits he’s adapting his style to match the new Ducati GP24.5 rather than chasing a lost feeling "that isn't there anymore".
Marc Marquez is rewriting his own MotoGP legacy in Ducati red. His start to the 2025 season has been nothing short of sensational — multiple pole positions, sprint race wins, and consistent Sunday successes, save for a DNF in Austin and a crash in Jerez.
On the other side of the factory Ducati garage, the mood couldn’t be more different.
Double world champion Francesco Bagnaia is in the middle of a confidence crisis.
Since the start of the year, he’s looked like a shadow of the rider who dominated the 2022 and 2023 campaign.
And the issues aren’t subtle — they’re fundamentally changing his riding.
“I can’t feel the front,” Bagnaia admitted after crashing out of the British Grand Prix. “From 2021 to 2024 I always had the same feeling — and now it’s gone.”
Bagnaia’s woes stem from a Desmosedici GP24.5 that was built using elements of the title-winning GP24 — but the sum hasn’t matched the parts.
In Le Mans, he acknowledged that the bike’s braking characteristics had changed to the point where he had to start adapting to the machine, rather than asking it to adapt to him.
The result: two consecutive rounds with no Sunday points and a title gap to Marquez now at 72.
Silverstone made things worse. Bagnaia’s original race start was promising, running up front with Fabio Quartararo after Marquez crashed.
“The feeling with the rear was good, the grip was there,” Bagnaia said. But after the red flag, a simple tyre swap unraveled everything.
“After the restart, I had no traction. The rear was spinning everywhere, I was sliding and couldn’t turn.”
“I don’t know why — the only difference was that the tyre had been in the warmer longer.”
The Italian crashed out after less than four laps, visibly frustrated and searching for answers. “We are in a kind of limbo,” he said.
A dreadful Sunday for @PeccoBagnaia at Silverstone! ❌#BritishGP 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/Q2PzEz0k7A
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) May 25, 2025
“We’re trying to understand the problem, but it’s difficult to find the cause. We need a step, we need an improvement. We need to feel something.”
From the outside, the contrast within the team is jarring. Marquez, as team manager Davide Tardozzi put it, has returned to “2019 form” — fast, calculated, and tactically brilliant.
“Marc has total awareness of his speed now. Before, he was always on the limit. Now he knows how to manage it,” Tardozzi explained.
“At Le Mans he showed tactical intelligence — not taking risks and bringing home 20 points.”
Tardozzi insisted the team hasn’t lost faith in Bagnaia. “We’re trying everything to help him. He was really fast in a recent Panigale test in Mugello.”
“It’s clear he hasn’t forgotten how to go fast,” he said. “We need to give him back the confidence in corner entry and braking.”
Still, Bagnaia believes something deeper is at play. He sees the other Ducati riders progressing — notably Alex Marquez, whose riding on the GP24 looks identical to Bagnaia’s own style last year.
“It’s a small detail, but it’s enough to take away that front-end confidence,” he said. “And maybe even the engineers don’t know why.”
He’s not blind to the shift in competitiveness, either. “The others are improving. We are either standing still or going backwards,” Bagnaia said bluntly.
Even Marquez hinted at post-restart problems at Silverstone, backing up Bagnaia’s claims that the team still hasn’t understood what went wrong. But Marquez, with his experience and adaptability, masked it better.
Bagnaia, though clearly shaken, is clinging to one piece of optimism: “The positive thing is that I know my potential.”
“I know I can win if I get the feeling with the front back. That gives me a bit of peace. I’m working really hard with my team and engineers to find a solution. I’m giving everything. I can’t do more.”
With Aragon next on the calendar — a circuit where Bagnaia collided with Alex Marquez last year — the pressure to turn things around is only growing.
Ducati’s title defence in 2025 isn’t just about outright speed anymore. It’s about who can find balance in a bike that seemingly rewards only one riding style — and right now, that rider is Marc Marquez.
