Francesco Bagnaia: The reference? Marc Marquez and I start on equal status
“If during the season one rider is ahead and the other further back, you have to try to help the one in front”
Francesco Bagnaia has played down new team-mate Marc Marquez’s comments that the Italian double MotoGP champion starts 2025 with more ‘status’ than him, since he is the 'reference' in the factory Ducati team.
But Bagnaia, who missed out on his third title in a row by just ten points to Jorge Martin this season, added the scenario would change if a clear difference in championship position emerged between the team-mates.
“Logically there is a status and the one who calls the shots is Pecco,” Marquez, a six-time MotoGP champion for Honda between 2013-2019, said recently.
“Because Pecco has given two world titles to Ducati, the one who won eleven races last year and logically, he has to be the one who calls the shots this pre-season and in the first few races.
“I will try to work to get closer to him because he is the reference, the rider who has made Ducati win the championship again, and who is going very fast.”
Asked about those comments at Ducati’s 'Campioni in Festa' celebration in Bologna on Tuesday evening, Motorsport.com quotes Bagnaia as saying:
"I believe that in the end the ‘number ones’ in the box are not there and should not be there.
“The season always starts at the beginning, with the riders having the same say and I believe that things change during the season, because every time you start from scratch.
“I believe that this is the same thing, that if during the season one rider is ahead [in the championship] and the other further back, you have to work to try to help the one in front.
“I think that Marc, being an extremely intelligent person, immediately understood what the environment is and what the way of working is that we have.
“In the [Barcelona] test we did a great job [together], so if we continue like this, we are already on a good path.”
Bagnaia and Marquez were third and fourth fastest on a prototype version of next year’s GP25 at the Barcelona test.
The Italian felt the change of venue, after the cancellation of Valencia, was beneficial for testing purposes.
"This year in Barcelona the track better [for testing] from many points of view: you reach one of the highest top speeds in the World Championship and the grip level is low, so you can test more things,” he explained.
“Marc and I had similar feelings and it was very positive, because we managed to identify quite quickly the things to work on. The ones that are better and the ones that are worse.
“At the end of the day it was also easier for the engineers and for Gigi to identify the path to follow to arrive a little more ready in Malaysia.”
The official Sepang test takes place from February 5-7, 2025.
