Francesco Bagnaia sounds more optimistic than ever after the Aragon Grand Prix. Ducati teammate Marc Marquez cruised to a dominant victory, but Bagnaia may finally have found the right path.
Marquez topped every session at Aragon and extended his championship lead to 32 points. His brother Alex, riding a year-old GP24 at Gresini, remains second.
Bagnaia is now 93 points back in third, but he called his podium finish on Sunday ‘special’. It came after a rather disastrous Sprint where he started fourth and slipped to 12th.
| SESSION | RESULT |
| France Sprint | DNF |
| French Grand Prix | 16th |
| Britain Sprint | 6th |
| British Grand Prix | DNF |
| Aragon Sprint | 12th |
| Aragon Grand Prix | 3rd |
The two-time world champion was within a second of the younger Marquez brother at the chequered flag on Sunday, though. And he was only two behind Marc.
He’d only scored four points in the previous four events, but his impressive race pace suggests he could be back in victory contention at Mugello next time out. Bagnaia has won the last three Italian Grands Prix.
Kimi Antonelli and Randy Mamola hail Francesco Bagnaia’s fightback at Aragon Grand Prix
Based on his Instagram post after the race, Bagnaia clearly views the Aragon Grand Prix as a potential turning point in his season. His only victory so far in 2025 came at the Americas GP when Marquez went down in the lead.
“This is a special podium for me, we needed it,” he said. “Thank you team, let’s restart from here.”
13-time Grand Prix winner Randy Mamola was among those to leave a comment, welcoming Bagnaia’s return to form.
“Good seeing you up on the box @pecco63,” he wrote. “Solid finish to the weekend.”
Bagnaia also received a message from Mercedes Formula 1 driver Kimi Antonelli. The 18-year-old left three fire emojis under the post.
The two racers may now share a mutual friend after Antonelli went karting with MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi. Bagnaia is a graduate of The Doctor’s academy.
Davide Tardozzi believes Pecco Bagnaia can challenge Marc Marquez – but he must do one thing first
Bagnaia made a ‘sarcastic’ gesture in the Ducati garage after the Sprint, Neil Hodgson said. That suggested he was in a worrying headspace.
The 28-year-old has complained about a lack of ‘feeling’ on the bike all year. He’ll no doubt be wary of a false dawn, but it sounds as if he could ride with confidence again.
If this is a breakthrough, it may have come too late in the season to catch Marquez. There are still 14 races to go, but outscoring the Ant of Cervera at all from here would be difficult enough, let alone besting him by nearly 100 points.
Still, Davide Tardozzi believes Bagnaia can still challenge for the title. First, though, he needs to overhaul Alex Marquez and become the nearest challenger.
