Bagnaia reveals what went wrong in nightmare 2025 season with Ducati

Bagnaia went into the 2025 campaign as one of the title favourites, but was completely 'destroyed' by new teammate Marc Marquez and fell to a dismal fifth place in the final championship standings.

Appearing as a guest on the Italian BSMT podcast hosted by Gianluca Gazzolli, Bagnaia opened up about what it was like 'inside the helmet' during the most difficult year of his MotoGP career so far.

"It was very tough because I didn't have the usual sensations on the bike," said Bagnaia, "Since the second test of the season I started having difficulties, we tried to resolve them somehow and unfortunately we didn't succeed, but at the end of the day we knew it was not just a question of adaptation, it was just a different functioning that, given the way I ride, put me in more difficulty."

"My mistake was probably to convince myself that I had made a mess, convince myself that my potential with the GP24 was at the top, so I took for granted that I would do the same again."

"Instead, the bike changed and I tried in every way to make the bike look like the 24 again, without success, and so that was a bit of a waste of time."

"Then there was the race in Japan where I felt extremely good and I won, I did pole, fastest lap, everything - a bit like 2024. But from that race onwards everything just got worse. In the end, I just couldn't get along with what I was driving."

"[...] In Indonesia, I couldn't believe that I was last, in such difficulty and not being able to ride the bike at all since before the race had been scary. [...] In Malaysia, puncturing, it makes you feel like the year was a disaster in every sense."

Speaking about his current relationship with Ducati, as well as the arrival of Marquez to the team, Bagnaia shed some more light on how he has struggled to adapt.

"The DNA of this bike has changed a bit, and unfortunately I haven't been able to adapt. And then there are situations where you have little control over them [...] like the time I had a puncture, you know, you can't do anything about it. [...] So let's just say all the bad luck has come together in a single moment."

"In the end, Marc has always shown that he is a rider who managed to adapt, [...] it's obvious that the GP25 was a dominant bike together with him."

"[...] Marc is ultimately a very intelligent person, he adapted immediately, and we had a good relationship right from the start and we often discussed different situations and solutions on a technical level."