Ducati's treatment of Pecco Bagnaia questioned by Casey Stoner

The Australian MotoGP legend won one of his two premier class championships with the Italian brand back in 2007.

It was also their first riders’ title, and they had to wait a whole 15 years for another with Francesco Bagnaia.

Not only did the Italian home hero deliver one championship, but two, becoming their most successful ever rider.

Yet despite all their success together, the partnership will end when the 2026 season comes to a close.

Ducati acted quickly to snap up KTM’s Pedro Acosta as a replacement, forcing Bagnaia to fellow Italian squad Aprilia on a multi-year deal.

The call came just a year after Bagnaia finished outside of the top two in the championship for the first time since 2020, while teammate Marc Marquez accelerated to the title.

For Stoner, he’s not too pleased with how the team behaved towards the elite 'Pecco'.

Speaking to MotoGP’s official website, he said: “Considering Pecco is the one that really gave them their first championship since mine, back-to-back, and then was second either side of that, he was the only Ducati rider really at the front; he got the short straw for sure.

“I’m also excited to see what can happen for him, to find some new motivation and hopefully a new motivation at Aprilia and get back to his ways and where he was confident.”

Stoner then went even further, hitting back at those who told Bagnaia to stop complaining.

He continued: “I feel very sorry for Pecco, for sure during the last period he struggled a bit so everyone lost face in Pecco, said ‘he was complaining it’s the same bike blah blah blah’, but I could see from the outside that the bike was not the same.

“This is a really smooth rider, a smooth guy on all these elements, and I was watching the bike doing things it shouldn’t be doing.”

Despite Stoner’s clear frustration with Bagnaia’s treatment, he completely understands why his old team acted so quickly to snap up Acosta.

He added: “You can’t argue with the line-up. Marc is incredibly dependable; you know what he’s going to be able to produce. He’s an incredible talent, and it doesn’t seem to matter what kind of injury he has; he’s always finding a way to fight through and get results.”

However, he then went on to give a word of caution on Acosta, perhaps explaining why he’s yet to win a MotoGP race.

Stoner explained: “Pedro, we’ve seen the talent for sure. I think I’d like to see a little bit more patience, because I feel that there are certain riders on the grid he doesn’t like to see in front, so he will do anything to be in front of them.

“If you’re going to win championships, this doesn’t really work; you need to know some days you’re not going to win, so you need to accept that and accept some of these results.

“I think Pedro needs to be a little bit more patient so we can see the talent come out a little bit more, and when the time comes he will for sure be a big threat on a bike that’s proven.

“The KTM, it’s really difficult to know where the level is and then once we see Pedro on a Ducati we’ll know a lot more.”

Finally, he discussed one of the controversial topics around Ducati, that they won’t be fielding an Italian rider since his time with the team.

The double-Spanish line-up of Marquez and Acosta will be the first without a home talent since he and Nicky Hayden linked up in 2010.

Stoner argued that it’s just recency which makes the change seem more unusual, and that nationalities don’t matter within a team.

He finished: “You don’t need to have the same nationalities to have a really good bond and a really good working relationship. I think the performance is first and foremost, and then loyalty is really important.

“Even in 2009 and 2010, it was an Australian and American rider on the factory team, some of Ducati’s most famous riders, Troy Bayliss, Carl Fogarty, British and Australian; it’s been lots of different nationalities and doing well with Ducati.”