Francesco Bagnaia is now 72 points behind his Ducati teammate Marc Marquez in the MotoGP riders’ championship after he crashed in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
The 28-year-old may have thought his luck was in when Alex Marquez crashed at Abbey and Marc Marquez fell at Becketts during the first attempt at running the British GP. But Bagnaia saw his chance to gain ground on his rivals evaporate when a red flag let the brothers rejoin.
What may have been a massive day in the 2025 MotoGP season for the Italian became even worse after Bagnaia crashed out of the British GP, too. The two-time riders’ champion fell to his knees in despair after losing his front tyre at Luffield whilst running in P13 on Lap 4 of 19.
Bagnaia had next to nothing to offer through his three-and-a-half laps of the second attempt at staging the British GP, as the Ducati rider fell from third on the grid. Marc Marquez sealing third place and Alex Marquez coming home in fifth just added to the Turin native’s woe, too.
Francesco Bagnaia is struggling as Ducati changed their 2025 bike’s balance ‘without meaning to’
Now, he sits 72 points adrift of Marc Marquez and 48 behind Alex in the riders’ standings, as Bagnaia has struggled to adapt to Ducati’s 2025 MotoGP bike. His woe also stems from two changes the Borgo Panigale brand made when adapting the GP24 to build this year’s GP25.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
That is according to The Race’s Simon Patterson, who feels Ducati ‘sold a lie’ that the GP25 is the same bike as the GP24. The bikes carry ‘more substantial differences’ than the factory initially implied, but Ducati changed important facets about the GP25 ‘without meaning to’.
Ducati modified some of the internal aspects of their GP24 engine to create their GP25 unit, which means it has a different inertia. They also inadvertently disrupted the balance of their 2025 bike, as the ride height device is a lot lighter and in a different place than on the GP24.
The accidental changes that Ducati made to the GP25’s engine and balance now justify why Bagnaia has struggled much more to adapt to their newest bike. Marc Marquez also did not race the GP24 last term, so has less to re-learn after riding a GP23 with Gresini during 2024.
Unlike the Italian, who relies on building his confidence with a bike to extract the most from it, the Spaniard can also ride around most problems and adapts to the challenge more easily than most riders. Thus, Marquez hit the ground running and has built a buffer over Bagnaia.
Francesco Bagnaia knows he must adapt to the GP25 to beat Marc Marquez to the title
Bagnaia is well aware that he needs to adapt to the GP25 if the Turin native is to rival Ducati teammate Marquez for the 2025 riders’ title. The Italian got his sole win so far this season in Austin, as Bagnaia seized upon Marquez crashing in the lead to win the Americas Grand Prix.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Marc Marquez from net worth to girlfriend
But his crashes more recently at Le Mans, having also endured a torrid time as Bagnaia took P16 in the French Grand Prix, and Silverstone have let Marquez mitigate his own dip in form. The 32-year-old has not won the past three Grands Prix after securing three of the first four.
Even finishing second to Alex Marquez in the Sprint Race at the British GP to snap his streak of six Sprint wins in a row saw Marc Marquez aim a subtle dig at Bagnaia at Silverstone by suggesting ‘the problem is you’ if a rider goes through a flurry of set-ups without improving.
