For double MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia, fading from third to sixth in Saturday’s Silverstone Dash represented the most recent chapter in his ongoing dealing with woes with the Ducati GP25.
The distinction was that the quick Silverstone circuit exacerbated the issue whereas, Bagnaia believes, title-leading team-mate Marc Marquez additionally suffered from the identical points for the primary time.
Bagnaia held third behind the Marquez brothers, Alex and Marc, till a dramatic decline – brought on by a lack of rear grip – noticed him overtaken by the sister GP25 of Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46), plus Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) and Johann Zarco (LCR Honda).
Rear grip may appear unconnected to entrance dealing with however in an in depth rationalization on Saturday night, Bagnaia spoke of how the shortage of entrance efficiency brought about him to overwork the rear.
“Riders have been overtaking me like I wasn’t there”
“I began effectively. I used a mistake by Fabio [Quartararo] to overhaul him after which I attempted to observe the primary two guys. And after 4 laps I fully completed the rear tyre,” Bagnaia started.
“That’s unusual. However not for the tyre, however for my bike, which isn’t serving to me to show.
“Each time I’m braking and getting into the corners, I’m not within the appropriate line. So I have to power rather a lot the rear to make the bike flip, and I completed it.
“Then it was a case of survival till the final laps, with riders overtaking me like I wasn’t there.”
“This circuit is among the worst for tyre consumption [anyway] and if we aren’t fixing the issue of turning, it is going to be troublesome additionally with the medium [compound] within the grand prix,” he warned.
Bagnaia, 2025 British MotoGP
“I can not perceive if I am utilizing a comfortable or laborious entrance tyre”
One of many standout quotes from Bagnaia’s calm and detailed debrief got here when he revealed:
“I’ll provide you with an instance: For the primary time this season, I can not perceive if I am utilizing a comfortable entrance tyre or a tough entrance tyre.
“These are two fully various things, and for me, it is the identical, using the bike. Proper now, that is the state of affairs.”
Alex Marquez “doing what I used to be doing final yr”
Silverstone was additionally Marc Marquez’s most troublesome Saturday of the season.
The Spaniard missed the entrance row for the primary time – and was behind Bagnaia – in qualifying, then misplaced his good streak of 2025 Dash wins when overwhelmed by Alex within the afternoon.
Bagnaia believes it’s a consequence of the observe structure exaggerating the GP25’s dealing with deficiencies.
“Marc will not be performing like regular, that’s tremendous good and all the time to [overcome] the issues. And this observe can be making his life troublesome.
“So proper now, whenever you’re Alex Marquez’s information, he’s doing what I used to be doing final yr. And with the identical confidence.
“And what I’m doing this season will not be akin to final yr.”
However whereas Marc nonetheless speaks of the GP25 being “the identical” because the GP24 utilized by Alex, Bagnaia – the one rider to maneuver from a GP24 to GP25 – is adamant there’s a important distinction in ‘feeling’.
“I feel they’re theoretically related, however the feeling is sort of completely different,” he stated.
Marc Marquez, Alex Marquez, 2025 British MotoGP Dash
“Marc had the identical feeling as me”
After maybe being made to really feel he was alone in experiencing the dealing with points, Bagnaia highlighted: “For the primary time this season, Marc had the identical feeling as me.”
However the manufacturing unit team-mates diverged by way of an answer.
An brazenly “struggling” Marquez spoke of the rider needing to beat the issues:
“If you end up attempting a number of set-ups and also you don’t really feel snug, it means you’re the downside; the bike will not be the issue, as a result of that is one thing that some riders misunderstand.
“While you attempt three, 4 completely different set-ups and the issues are nonetheless there, it means you’re the downside, the bike will not be the issue. So, for tomorrow I have to work on my using fashion.”
Nevertheless, Bagnaia regards the state of affairs as “a failure of everyone if we aren’t succeeding” and that Marc’s difficulties are a validation of what he’s feeling.
“We’re working laborious, and all of the workforce, all of the engineers are on it. It’s a failure of everyone if we aren’t succeeding, so we are attempting to unravel each downside,” Bagnaia stated.
“I’m giving my most each time, they’re giving their most. We are attempting to analyse the whole lot.
“For the primary time this season, Marc had the identical feeling as me. He was simply higher as a result of he was in a position to observe Alex for extra laps, after which he dropped rather a lot within the final laps.
“However he was roughly feeling the identical. So being in the identical path will assist completely to grasp what to do.”
“An enormous downside for my using fashion”
Bagnaia insisted {that a} resolution will solely take the type of “small particulars”, however at current it’s inflicting a “large downside for my using fashion”.
“I feel that it’s little issues proper now, as a result of like I stated, the bikes technically are related [to last year]. But it surely’s the small particulars that aren’t giving me the identical feeling with the entrance that I all the time had from 2021 to 2024.
“It’s the primary time that I can not really feel the entrance. So it is a large downside for my using fashion, which I’m attempting to adapt to the bike. However I’m destroying the tyres, I’m not joyful using, so it’s not straightforward.”
Monitor temperatures have been 9 levels cooler this yr, however for comparability, Alex Marquez received this yr’s Dash with a race time 3.728s slower than Enea Bastianini’s victory on a GP24 final yr.
