Francesco Bagnaia aims to seriously challenge Ducati Renovo teammate Marc Marquez as MotoGP returns to Jerez.
The Double World Champion has arrived third in the standings behind both Marquez brothers, with Alex currently 9 points ahead, with Mark gaining an additional 17 points advantage after winning seven of the eight opening rounds.
But Bagnaia, who reminded Mark in a close fight at Jerez last year and left the tire mark on the Spanish leather, believes 2025 will demand another step up in performance.
“We have to take a step this time,” Bagnaia said Thursday. “I love trucks and the last three GPS here were really nice. Last year, I struggled with Mark, but this year I feel better and more competitive.
Despite Marquez’s essential form, Bagnaia claims he still believes in his own ability to fight for victory.
“I believe I can fight and I can fight for victory,” he said. “The possibilities I have are enough to fight, but Mark does everything perfectly. You have to take a step forward to beat him – and yet, it’s still difficult.”
Bagnaia also admitted that his teammates are in a strong enough position to not have to take risks every weekend.
“Mark is in a situation where he knows he can finish second without taking any risks,” he added. “But he’s a rider who normally doesn’t want to finish second. If I win, that’s because the improvements we made are starting to work.”
Ducati’s dominance continues, but now within one victory range that rivals Honda’s 22 consecutive Grand Prix wins, Bagnaia points to 2020 as the turning point in Des Mojisicz’s previous struggle at Geres.
“This trend has changed in 2020,” he explained. “It was my second season and we started working on the details. I used a completely different engine braking setting from the DOVI and started to be competitive. Sometimes it’s about riders and adaptation.”
When asked if they might benefit from the growing competition between the Marquez brothers, Bagnaia downplayed all tensions, but acknowledged the importance of their form.
“They are brothers and they’re fighting for an incredible goal – to win the title,” he said. “Alex does a great job equalizing performances every weekend. I don’t think they’ll start arguing… they’ll just discuss it at home.”
As for qualifying, after falling crash in Qatar and 11th in the grid, Bagnaia said he has no plans to be more cautious.
“Qualifying is the only moment you can push to the limit,” he said. “You need that rap. But I won’t change my attitude. I’ll push as usual.”
Like Marc Marquez, Bagnaia has new parts to try out the GP25 in post-race tests on Monday.
However, the Italians have made it clear that he is not looking for a dramatic change in the car he thinks will be able to win every race this year – and continued to dominate MotoGP until at least 2027 regulations.