Francesco Bagnaia: My career can start and finish at Ducati

Francesco Bagnaia says he can finish his MotoGP career with Ducati despite his ongoing struggles with the GP25 leading to question marks over his future with the team.

Bagnaia has led the Borgo Panigale team in its most successful era in MotoGP, winning back-to-back titles on the Desmosedici in 2022 and ‘23, and finishing a close runner-up to Jorge Martin last year.

Ducati general manager Gigi Dall’Igna recently described him as the second most important rider in the marque’s history, only behind the legendary Casey Stoner.

However, some speculate that Bagnaia’s partnership with Ducati may not last beyond the end of his current contract, which expires at the end of 2026, unless he is able to turn around his performance and become a regular race winner again.

However, speaking to MotoGP.com, the Italian expressed his interest in remaining a lifelong Ducati rider as he enters the final phase of the 2025 season.

“I never doubt Ducati because I think my career was starting and finishing at Ducati,” he said.

“It’s too soon to speak about next year,” he added. “If I will be okay with my bike, I can fight for it. If not, I will try to do what I always did, which is pushing and trying to set everything in a good way.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Bagnaia’s woes have deepened in the second half of the season, leading to him qualifying 21st in Barcelona and finishing outside the points in both races at Misano.

A dominant victory in Japan suggested that he had finally found a solution, but he hit a new low in Indonesia just a week later as he crashed out of last place while lapping several seconds off the frontrunners.

Despite the setbacks, Bagnaia insisted he never lost faith in himself over the course of the season.

“My side of the box was working a lot,” he said. “The engineers were working a lot to try to help me adapt to the bike. 

“But something was not clear, [it] was not adapting to the bike. It’s not easy because when your team-mate [Marc Marquez] is winning and you are doing bad results, it’s not easy to believe. But they never stopped working. 

“I wasn’t recognising myself. I think nobody was recognising me. Some people started to doubt my potential, but I never lost my confidence. I was always sure my potential was to fight for wins.”

Coming into 2025, one of the biggest storylines was Marquez’s high-profile move to Ducati’s factory team as team-mate to Bagnaia.

The Italian had established himself as the most standout rider on the grid during Marquez’s lean years in MotoGP, but the latter was expected to pose a serious challenge now that he had a competitive bike again.

Ultimately, Marquez wrapped up the 2025 title in Japan with five races to spare, while Bagnaia’s season has so far been blighted by his struggles to adapt to the GP25.

Bagnaia said that he and Marquez “have a great relationship”, before adding: “He is one of the best riders in the MotoGP era in the world. 

“With Valentino [Rossi], [they are] the two strongest riders in the world. You can only learn from a rider like him and it’s something I am trying to do.”