After a tough battle that saw him lose the 2024 championship with Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia is preparing what could become the battle for his career in MotoGP. Ducati boldly decided to pair Bagnaia with eight-time world champion Mark Marquez on the factory team, creating a duo combining eight premier class Grand Prix titles with the best teams in MotoGP.
The early stages of the season were not Bagnaia’s smooth sailing. During pre-season testing, Pecco struggled to find the same sense that would help secure an 11 Grand Prix victory the previous year. The development of the ’25 bike was also less useful, as Ducati chose to stick to the GP24 engine, among other components. As a result, Bagnaia realized she was catching up to Marquez. Marquez rushed into the Ducati Garage and quickly insisted on his control.
This was revealed after his departure as Mark Marquez ruled the Thai Grand Prix and secured a victory in the Paul, sprint race and Grand Prix. Meanwhile, Bagnaia struggled to fit the #93 pace, even behind Ducati satellite rider Alex Marquez, who last year’s GP24 was riding with Gresini Ducati.
The situation for Bagnaia in Argentina has deteriorated, with him finishing third in the sprint race (again, Mark and Alex Marquez) and fourth in the Grand Prix. The Italian found himself in a dire situation after the weekend, considering his return to cycling in 2024. However, he later revealed that he was just looking for a sense of bikes, not a complete switch back to the GP24 spec.
Bagnaia finally found a breakthrough at the American Grand Prix in Austin. During practice on Friday, he was able to find improvements throughout the weekend in typical Bagnaia fashion.
After qualifying for the second row, Bagnaia was able to get a strong start in the sprint race, taking on Marc Marquez for the first time this season. Despite finishing third again behind the Marquez brothers, the short race shows #93 was no longer out of reach.
Coming to the Grand Prix on Sunday, Bagnaia took another step forward, overtaking Alex Marquez and becoming Mark’s main rival in the race. Eventually, Marquez made a mistake while controlling the race, giving Pecco a victory.
Bagnair himself admits that his victory was the result of Mark Marquez’s crash, and he knows he needs to beat #93 completely. However, there is one positive sign from Pecco’s start through the 2025 season.
The best start of the season?
Three rounds later, Bagnaia sits third in the MotoGP rider position with 75 points. He was behind Alex Marquez and 11 points behind Mark Marquez, playing in the 19th round this season.
Bagnaia is considered one of the leading contenders for the 2025 MotoGP title, but given the high expectations leading up to the season, his credibility was raised in question after two disappointing rounds.
However, there is one interesting detail that shows Bagnaia is actually off to the strongest start of the season. As can be seen in the table below, the Italian has put together the best point tally after three rounds compared to his last two seasons.
| Francesco Bagnaia’s Points tally – First 3 Rounds | |||||
| year | Race | I’ll win | Podium | DNFS | point |
| 2023 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 53 |
| 2024 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 50 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 75 |
Compared to 2023 (53) and 2024 (50), Bagnaia scored around 50% points in the first three rounds of 2025 (75). The key factor behind this improvement was his consistency as he finished in the top four in all six races he has held so far this season.
This was undoubtedly a major improvement for Bagnaia, with last year’s title bid rocking for the Abysmal 8 DNFS (five of them) at Saturday’s sprint race.
What about the rest of the season’s chances?
With Mark Marquez the winner this season, it’s an understatement to say that the momentum of the title fight was shaking with the favor of Bagnaia. Sure enough, he’ll come back even stronger after the mistake at Kota that he should have won comfortably.
Francesco Bagnaia, 2025 Americas Motogp at Cota
However, after scoring solid points in the first three rounds on the circuit where he struggled, Bagnaia puts more pressure on Marc Marquez’s camp as the season progresses. All he needs is to go back to the feelings he had on the ’24 bike that he thought he had over Kota weekend.
Bagnaia also learned from last year’s mistakes that securing solid points for a week is important in a title fight. This is what he tried to emulate from the first three rounds of the year.
Mark Marquez is a favorite of the title this season, but he never counts Bagnaia.