Why fallout is inevitable in Ducati’s MotoGP superteam

Since it was announced last June, discussion and speculation about how Marc Marquez will slot into the factory Ducati MotoGP squad has dominated the headlines. So far, it’s been a very cordial affair, with that continuing on Monday at the squad’s official launch event in the Madonna di Campiglio.

Making his first public appearance in full factory Ducati set-up, having ridden just in bright red without branding at the post-season Barcelona test last November, there is now a palpable sense of this being the beginning of something big in Marquez’s career - for better or for worse.

Without question, Ducati has assembled the strongest line-up in its history - and one of MotoGP’s all-time superstar outfits. Aboard the bike that dominated 19 of 20 grands prix in 2024, it will field a six-time premier class champion in Marquez and arguably Ducati’s best ever rider in double world champion Francesco Bagnaia. In total career titles, they combine for 11 world championships.

Standing in the shadows as the true mastermind is technical genius Gigi Dall’Igna, the man who has transformed Ducati and led the way for MotoGP bike development for the last decade. Some are already predicting Ducati’s factory duo to battle for victory in every race. Success seems guaranteed.

Rossi v Lorenzo repeat?

In a recent interview, team manager Davide Tardozzi likened his outfit’s line-up to that of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo at Yamaha between 2008 and 2010, and then again from 2013 to 2016. That is probably a fair assessment, but also a reminder that the most competitive line-ups in history also lead to major conflict.

Yamaha had already put agreements in place with Lorenzo while he was still in the 250cc category ahead of his 2008 MotoGP debut, eyeing him up as the successor to Rossi with a view to either his retirement or oft-talked about switch to Formula 1. Rossi, of course, stayed in MotoGP and wouldn’t retire until the end of 2021.

But from the off tensions were there. A wall was erected in the Yamaha box, ostensibly to stop tyre secrets escaping between both riders as Rossi ran Bridgestone in 2008 while Lorenzo went with Michelin. That wall remained when Bridgestone became sole supplier in 2009, when the pair really started to butt heads. By 2010, the situation became untenable and Lorenzo forced Rossi into his ill-fated Ducati move for 2011.

Tensions simmered and remained cool through 2013 and 2014 when the pair reunited at Yamaha. But things flared again over the next two years before Lorenzo made a slightly more successful switch to Ducati.

Marquez, of course, has ruffled plenty of feathers since stepping into the MotoGP class. HIs talent on track is supported by how ruthless his psychological warfare is. He knows the right buttons to press and is tactical when he does so. Still in a rebuilding phase of a career that stalled following his serious arm injury in 2020, the power Marquez still wields in MotoGP was evident last year.

Marquez a power player

Publicly refusing a factory Ducati at Pramac, Marquez offered the manufacturer two options: promote me to the works squad or give me a GP25 at Gresini. Ducati - perhaps foolishly - said the latter wasn’t possible: it was Pramac or nothing. So Marquez threatened to walk away entirely, something that spooked CEO Claudio Domenicali.

Ducati made a U-turn on its decision to promote Jorge Martin, who went on to win the world championship, in favour of Marquez. It was a powerplay from Marquez that has significantly weakened Ducati as a manufacturer.

It lost Ducati Martin, with the grid’s best satellite team in Pramac also walking away to Yamaha. Indirectly, it also led to race winners in Enea Bastianini and Marco Bezzecchi leaving, while Ducati has scaled back its factory bike offering from four to three and its overall representation from eight to six.

Marquez and Bagnaia by this point had already had two flashpoints on track. The first was their collision at the Portuguese Grand Prix, with the pair having a heated exchange in the stewards room afterwards. Tellingly, Marquez came out to the media and flat out laid the blame for that collision on Bagnaia’s door while the latter branded it a racing incident.

Bagnaia got his revenge in a head-to-head at the Spanish GP. But this won’t hold much weight when they go head-to-head in 2025: Crash understands the GP23 Marquez rode was an early-spec, rather than the end-of-season version. That disparity between the GP23 and GP24 only grew across the rest of the campaign. So, we haven’t yet seen how competitive Marquez can truly be on the Ducati despite his three wins last year.

Then there is the Rossi-shaped elephant in the room. It is no secret that Marquez’s powerplay last summer upset the VR46 camp, largely because it instantly weakened the standing Bagnaia actually has within his own manufacturer.

Rossi and Marquez, of course, will celebrate 10 years in 2025 of their history-altering fallout during the 2015 season - something that still hangs over the series to this day. Last year, Rossi began his PR bombardment campaign, telling L’Equipe that he didn’t understand Ducati’s decision for 2025.

Incidentally, Rossi has scaled back his car racing programme for 2025 and has stated he wants to come to more MotoGP events this season. Should tensions flare up between Bagnaia and Marquez, the former doesn’t have to say very much because Rossi will happily do the talking for him.

Mauro Grassili, sporting director at Ducati, said during the launch his keyword for the coming season is “harmony”. That wasn’t as on-the-nose as Tardozzi saying his “challenge” will be “the management of this garage”.

Marquez versus Bagnaia has all the makings of being one of MotoGP’s best rivalries and the most enthralling since Rossi versus Lorenzo.

Ducati isn’t kidding itself of the fact its two stars will almost certainly clash at some point. But Ducati hasn’t always been able to manage pressure points with its stars before, as the likes of Andrea Dovizioso and Casey Stoner will attest. And Marquez versus Bagnaia will be its toughest test yet…