Bagnaia’s struggles at Ducati

Francesco Bagnaia tackles a corner at the Red Bull Ring | Credit: MotoGP Press

If you’ve been following the season closely, there’s no way you could have missed the red Ducati dominating the headlines. But this time, instead of two-time champion Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati’s most successful rider, it was Marc Márquez who took the spotlight.

This shouldn’t be too surprising, given his early dominance came amongst iconic battles with Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo and many others. He set the stage for round two by showing plenty of potential last season with Gresini, and so far, he has delivered.

With the news of Márquez joining the factory team, the MotoGP world was certainly expecting a strong 1-2 performance from Ducati. Bagnaia, however, has had a disappointing run so far.

Sprint sessions

It is no secret that Bagnaia struggles in the sprint sessions, one of the factors that cost him the championship last season to Jorge Martín. He admitted as much at the start of the season in Buriram, mentioning that he wasn’t comfortable with the tank size difference between the sprint races and the regular races. 

However, you would expect him to be used to the format by now, since unlike in Formula One, sprint sessions are a regular feature that riders compete in every Saturday.

To give him the benefit of the doubt, he has mentioned having issues with his bike and not feeling as comfortable as he did last season. Still, one would have expected Bagnaia to have found solutions by now, as he cannot afford to lose out on an entire session every weekend, especially halfway through the season.

Losing confidence? 

Another observation, though not to be taken as a definitive fact, is that Bagnaia seems to lose his composure once he is overtaken and often makes small mistakes that end up costing him several positions.

This season, he has only managed one win, which came at the Circuit of the Americas, in part thanks to Marc crashing in that race. While Texas was a positive, the other wins this season have mostly gone to Marc. Bagnaia meanwhile has not even finished in second place or competed for it.

Throughout the season, he had been taking responsibility for his performance, but that changed recently, notably at the Austrian Grand Prix, when he reportedly demanded answers from Ducati about his bike’s underperformance.

After posting decent timings following the long break and finishing second in both free practice sessions, the weekend went downhill with constant issues, prompting him to look for answers from his engineers.

“I’m always focused, I’ve never lost my head,” Bagnaia told Motorsport.com. 

He also explained that issues from earlier in the season had returned and noted that he finished 12 seconds behind the winner on a circuit where he had “always made a difference” - Bagnaia had won at the Red Bull Ring in each of the last three seasons.

What’s next?

Now with Marco Bezzecchi showing signs of comfort with the Aprilia and Pedro Acosta trying to put up a strong fight on his KTM, Bagnaia will have to make sure he translates any answers into on-track performance. 

The second half of the season could bring a more entertaining battle at the front, even if the fight for first place may remain out of reach.

There shouldn’t be concerns about Bagnaia’s seat, at least for now, as his contract runs until the end of the 2026 season. The team continues to support him, but there is still plenty of room for Bagnaia to prove himself if he wants to stay longer, especially as speculation grows about Alex Márquez potentially joining his brother at the factory team. 

It’s a double-header week, so be sure to catch all the action of the Hungarian Grand Prix this Sunday, 24th August with the race starting at 13:00 BST.