Double MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia went from 3rd to 6th to 6th to 6th to 6th to 6th to 6th to 6th to 6th to 6th to 6th to 6th in Saturday’s Silverstone Sprint, representing his continued handling efforts with the Ducati GP25.
The difference was that while the high-speed Silverstone circuit made the issue worse, Bagnaia believes that the title-leading teammate Mark Marquez also suffered the same issue for the first time.
Bagnaia stayed in third place behind Marquez brothers Alex and Mark, and was overtaken by Fabio Digianntonio (VR46) sister GP25, as well as Marco Betzecchi (Aprilia) and Johann Salko (LCR Honda), until the loss of the rear grip caused a dramatic decline.
The rear grip may not seem to have anything to do with front handling, but in a detailed description on Saturday evening, Bagnaia talked about how the lack of front performance caused him to overwork the rear.
“The rider was overtaking me like I wasn’t there.”
“I started off well. I used a mistake by Fabio (Quartararo) to pass him and tried to follow the first two guys. And after four laps, I fully completed the rear tire,” Bagnaia began.
“That’s weird, but not because of the tires, but my bike doesn’t help turn me.
“Every time I brake and enter a corner, I’m not on the right line, so I have to force a lot of the rear to turn the bike.
“Then it was the case of survival until the last lap and the rider overtook me like I wasn’t there.”
“This circuit is one of the worst in tire consumption (almost none other), and if you haven’t solved the turning issue, it’s also difficult in the Grand Prix medium (compounds),” he warned.
Bagnaia, 2025 British Motogp
“I don’t know if I’m using soft or stiff front tires.”
One outstanding quote from Bagnaia’s gentle and detailed record came when he revealed:
“Give me an example. I don’t understand if this is the first time this season we’re using soft front and hard front tires.
“These are two completely different things, and for me they are the same. I’m riding a bike. Now, this is the situation.”
Alex Marquez: “I’m doing what I was doing last year.”
Silverstone was also Mark Marquez’s most difficult Saturday of the season.
The Spaniard missed the front row for the first time – and behind Bagnaia – lost a complete streak of the 2025 sprint victory when he was beaten by Alex in the afternoon.
Bagnaia considers it a result of a track layout that exaggerates the defects in handling the GP25.
“Mark isn’t performing as usual. It’s very good and always to overcome (overcoming) the problems. This track also makes his life difficult.
“Now, when you look at the data for Alex Marquez, he’s doing what I was doing last year, and with the same confidence.
“And what I’m doing this season is no match for last year.”
However, Mark still talks about the “same” GP25 used by the only rider who moved from Alex, Gp24 to GP25, but asserts that there is a big difference in “emotions.”
“I think they’re similar in theory, but the feelings are completely different,” he said.
Mark Marquez, Alex Marquez, 2025 UK Motogpu Sprint
“Mark had the same feelings as me.”
Perhaps after being made to feel alone with him experiencing handling issues, Bagnaia said, “For the first time this season, Mark had the same feelings as me.”
However, the factory teammates diverged in the solution.
Marquez, who openly “struggles” said the rider needs to overcome the problem.
“When you’re trying out a lot of setups and don’t feel comfortable, it means you’re the problem, which isn’t the problem.
“If you try out three different setups, there are still issues, but that means you’re the problem. The bike isn’t the problem. So tomorrow you’ll need to work on your riding style.”
However, Bagnaia sees the situation as “a failure of everyone if we are not successful,” and sees Mark’s difficulties as a verification of what he feels.
“We’re working hard, every team, every engineer is working on it. If we’re not successful, it’s anyone’s failure, so we’re trying to solve all the problems,” Bagnaia said.
“I give the max every time. They give the max. We’re trying to analyze everything.
“For the first time this season, Mark had the same feeling as me, he was able to chase Alex with more laps, so he was just right, so he fell a lot on the final lap.
“But he felt more or less the same, so being in the same direction helps him fully understand what to do.”
“A big problem with my riding style.”
Bagnaia argued that the solution would only take the form of “small details,” but now it is causing “a big problem with my riding style.”
“I think, like I said, bikes are technically trivial (as I did last year), for now, but it’s a small detail that doesn’t give the same feeling as the front line I’ve always had from 2021 to 2024.
“This is the first time I’ve never felt the front, so this is a big problem for my riding style. It’s trying to adapt to the bike, but it’s destroying the tires.
The track temperature was 9 degrees this year, but for comparison, Alex Marquez was slower in this year’s sprint by 3.728s race time, 3.728s, slower than Enea Bastianini’s victory at GP24 last year.