Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo can see that Francesco Bagnaia is having a ‘difficult’ season with Ducati in 2025, but he has still been positively surprised by the Italian.
Bagnaia was the top dog at Ducati for the previous four years, but has now been eclipsed by Marc Marquez in Borgo Panigale. The Italian won the Bologna Bullets’ first riders’ title for 15 years in the 2022 MotoGP season and also went back-to-back by securing another in 2023.
But the 28-year-old faces Marquez lifting Ducati’s next riders’ title in 2025, with the 32-year-old leading the championship after the first eight rounds on 233 points. Bagnaia is only third in the standings with 140 points to also trail Gresini’s Alex Marquez, who is second with 201.
Ducati have also only seen the Turin native win one Grand Prix so far this term, which came when Bagnaia won the Americas GP after Marquez crashed out in the lead. The Spaniard, on the other hand, has four Grand Prix and seven Sprint wins, as well as taking four poles so far.
Francesco Bagnaia’s riding style in a ‘difficult’ MotoGP season ‘surprises’ Fabio Quartararo
Yet while Ducati are running out of patience with Bagnaia’s excuses that his lack of form this year stems from struggling to adapt to the GP25, Yamaha rival Quartararo admits his former title rival’s riding style ‘surprises’ him with the speed that the Italian carries through corners.
Quartararo can spot similarities between his riding style and Bagnaia’s, having watched the Ducati rider during his ‘difficult’ season this year. The 26-year-old also sees differences with Bagnaia’s style to how Marc Marquez has adapted to the GP25 since joining Ducati this year.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Francesco Bagnaia from net worth to race number
Quartararo told Mig Babol: “Pecco is in a bit more of a difficult moment. But when you see Pecco, he has a style that is a bit more like mine. He makes much less of an angle than Marc.
“But he has the ability to make a lot of time there and have the consistency to always go for it. But Pecco is a rider who surprises me, surprises me a lot.”
Fabio Quartararo saw Francesco Bagnaia at his best with his ‘scary’ form to win the 2022 MotoGP title
Quartararo has seen Bagnaia perform at his best after the pair fought for the MotoGP title in 2021 and 2022. The Yamaha rider got the better of the Ducati ace in their first championship showdown, but Bagnaia raised his game to another level to claim his inaugural title in 2022.
READ MORE: Everything to know about Fabio Quartararo from net worth to career stats
Quartararo adds: “He was very strong. In the end, he had a scary second part of the season. In the end, even the motorbike was a bit [faster]. We were all a little nervous, we made a few mistakes and, in the end, we lost a lot of points. But Pecco was very, very, very strong.”
Bagnaia completed the greatest title comeback in MotoGP history to beat Quartararo to the 2022 riders’ title, having trailed the Yamaha star by 91 points after the 10th of 20 rounds. He turned the year on its head with five wins in the final 10 rounds to win the title by 17 points.
Now, Bagnaia trails Marquez by 93 points after eight of a record-setting 24 rounds in 2025. But Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi tells Bagnaia to focus on Alex Marquez before he can chase Marc down for the title. The younger Marquez brother is also 61 points better off.
