The third spherical of the 2025 MotoGP season takes place this weekend on the Americas Grand Prix, with Marc Marquez on a scorching streak after two occasions to this point.
The eight-time world champion has a 100% file to this point in 2025, having certified on pole at each occasions and gained each sprints and grands prix to steer the championship by 16 factors for the manufacturing unit Ducati workforce.
However whereas Marquez has stolen the highlight along with his outcomes, team-mate Pecco Bagnaia has confronted rising scrutiny for his lacklustre begin to the marketing campaign.
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Already 31 factors behind Marquez within the championship and never but capable of no less than be better of the remaining, Bagnaia has instructed that for this weekend’s Americas GP he could revert to the GP24.
Whereas Ducati is assured Bagnaia will get again on prime, this weekend’s Austin spherical may properly present a real reflection as to simply the place he sits within the pecking order at present.
“It’s an indication of frustration just a little bit once you’re saying feedback like that,” Crash MotoGP Editor Peter McLaren says within the newest Crash MotoGP Podcast.
“I feel it’s frustration at seeing your team-mate forward of you and one other man on the ’24 bike.
“I feel this weekend will probably be fascinating as a result of we will make a direct comparability to final 12 months.
“The 2 rounds to this point, Termas wasn’t on the calendar final 12 months and Thailand was in a very completely different place on the calendar final 12 months and it was a moist grand prix.
“This will probably be similar monitor, comparable time of 12 months, and what’s the efficiency like. How is he evaluating to what he did final 12 months on the usual GP24.
“So, I feel there will probably be some extra solutions this weekend that we possibly haven’t had to this point.
“It’s a shock. Everybody thought he was going to face a extremely robust battle towards Marc.
“Folks didn’t count on he’d even have Alex forward of him in just about each session.
“Pecco hasn’t actually been capable of set up himself as better of the remaining behind Marc but and I feel that’s the very first thing he’s obtained to do that weekend, break up that Marquez brothers dominance, attempt to construct some confidence there.
“As a result of when different individuals are going quicker than you on the identical bike, it’s very tough as a result of in the event you’re a workforce or a producer you’re saying ‘this different man can do that with this package deal. You are able to do this, you’re a gifted man’. And I feel there’s stress on Pecco to ship that.”
Pecco Bagnaia can solely blame bike for therefore lengthy
On reverting to the GP24, Crash Social Media Supervisor and podcast host Jordan Moreland says: “I don’t assume it could be a very good transfer since you need to be on the identical spec as your team-mate, you need to be having the newest components that he will get. You need to have that parity.”
Whereas acknowledging that one thing isn’t fairly proper but with the GP25 to permit Bagnaia to be quicker, Crash Senior Journalist Lewis Duncan additionally believes the Italian usually tends to keep away from accountability in instances of problem.
“It’s nearly Pecco admitting defeat there that he can’t experience this 2025 bike, which in principle isn’t very completely different to the 2024 bike.
“I feel we’ve seen this earlier than with Pecco, when issues don’t go his approach he will get a bit misplaced in his head.
“Suppose again to COTA a few years in the past when he crashed out of the lead and he blamed it initially on the bike having an excessive amount of stability on the entrance finish, so he couldn’t really feel the restrict.
“He walked again these feedback, so we’ve had that a couple of instances – assume again to the invisible visor tear-off at Misano in 2020 when he crashed out of the lead.
“I feel Pecco’s perspective has nearly tended to default in direction of blaming one thing else as an alternative of holding a little bit of accountability for himself.
“Clearly one thing within the set-up of the bike isn’t fairly working for him but, and I feel Ducati have stated as such and so they aren’t throwing him to the wolves but.
“However they’re additionally saying that ‘we don’t actually know what it’s. We expect there’s one thing unsuitable however we will’t say for sure’.
“I feel that’s the telling factor, particularly once you have a look at the dominance of Marc Marquez on the bike and even Alex Marquez is quicker than Bagnaia.
“Yeah, on paper, the outcomes aren’t horrible, however he was 5.5s again from his team-mate in Argentina.
“There’s a downside there and we’re gonna begin attending to the purpose the place we see that it’s the rider.
“We’ve seen Pecco earlier than when factor aren’t proper, he comes via. However we haven’t seen that and also you do have to start out taking a look at it within the context of the opposite Ducatis and none of them are having the identical issues.
“There’s solely a lot you possibly can blame the bike for and I feel already it’s an excessive amount of.
“Alex Marquez isn’t using the way in which he’s simply because he’s on the GP24. Pecco Bagnaia is a double world champion, so no matter issues he’s having he must be using round them. That’s what the perfect riders do, no bike is each good.”
