The third round of the 2025 MotoGP season took place this weekend at the US Grand Prix, with Mark Marquez becoming a hot streak after two events so far.
The eight-time world champion has scored a 100% record so far in 2025, qualifying on poles in both events, winning both sprints and grand prix, and leading the championship 16 points with the factory Ducati team.
But while Marquez stole the spotlight in the results, teammate Pecco Bagnaia faces an increase in scrutiny about the campaign’s unseasonable start.
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Already behind Marquez in the championship, he can’t be the best of the others at least. Bagnaia suggests she will be able to return to GP24 at the US Grand Prix this weekend.
Ducati is sure Bagnaia will return to the top, but this weekend’s Austin Round could offer a real reflection on where he sits in his current order.
“When you’re making comments like that, it’s a bit of a sign of frustration,” Crash MotoGP editor Peter Mclaren said in his latest Crash MotoGP podcast.
“I think it’s unhappy to see your teammate in front of you and another guy on a ’24 bike.
“I think this weekend will be interesting as it can be directly compared to last year.
“In the previous two rounds, Termas wasn’t on the calendar last year. Thailand was a completely different place on the calendar last year, and it was a wet Grand Prix.
“It’s the same track, it’s similar year and what is the performance like? How does he compare to what he did with the standard GP24 last year?
“So I think there’s a little more answer this weekend, which may not be what happened so far.
“That’s a surprise, everyone thought he would face a really tough fight with Mark.
“People didn’t expect Alex to be in front of him in almost every session.
“Pecco has yet to establish himself as the other best behind Mark, and I think this is the first thing he has to do this weekend.
“When others go faster than you on the same bike, if you’re a team or a manufacturer, then you’re saying, ‘This other person can do this with this package. You can do this, you’re a talented guy.’
Pecco Bagnaia can blame bikes for a long time
Back to GP24, Crash Social Media Manager and podcast host Jordan Moreland said:
While acknowledging that Bagnaia is still not right to allow faster Bagnaia, Crush senior journalist Lewis Duncan believes Italians tend to avoid accountability during difficult times.
“Pecco has largely admitted the defeat of not being able to ride this 2025 bike. In theory, it’s not much different to the 2024 bike.
“I think we’ve seen this before on Pecco.
“Remember Cota a few years ago when he crashed from the lead and he blamed it on a bike that initially had too much stability on the front end, when he couldn’t feel the limitations.
“He’s back those comments, so we’ve had it a few times — look back at the invisible visor tears at Misano when he crashed from the lead in 2020.
“I think Pecco’s attitude tended to default to criticizing something else rather than holding a bit of accountability for himself.
“Obviously something in the bike setup hasn’t worked for him yet. Ducati has said that and I don’t think they’ve thrown him into the wolves yet.
“But they say, ‘We really don’t know what it is. I think there’s something wrong, but certainly can’t be said.”
“I think that’s what I’m talking about when you look at Mark Marquez’s advantage on the bike, and when you think that even Alex Marquez is faster than Bagnaia.
“Yeah, on paper, the outcome is not terrible, but he was 5.5 seconds from his Argentine teammate.
“There’s a problem there and we know it’s a rider.
“We’ve seen Pecco before.
“That’s all you can blame the bike, and I think it’s already too much.
“Alex Marquez isn’t riding like him just because he’s on a GP24. PeccoBagnaia is a double world champion. Any problem he needs to ride around them. That’s what the best riders do.