Alarm bells? Pecco Bagnaia makes stark admission about Marc Marquez

Two-time MotoGP World Champion Francesco Bagnaia believes he is less prepared for the 2025 season than his Ducati Lenovo teammate Marc Marquez following the final preseason test in Buriram.

Bagnaia had two days affected by technical issues at the Buriram test this week which ultimately left him without time to do a full race simulation, and declare that it is Marquez who “looks in better shape”.

“It’s true that Marc [Marquez], in this moment, looks in better shape, because also yesterday he had the chance to work, he had the chance to feel okay on the bike and I wasn’t in the same situation yesterday,” Bagnaia told MotoGP.com’s After the Flag show following the end of the second day of testing in Buriram.

Bagnaia’s comments came after Marquez finished a race simulation with pace consistently in the 1:30s during the final day of preseason testing. The Spaniard’s pace stood out from the rest of the field, including Bagnaia, whose only experience on used tyres came from a a series of shorter runs, rather than one simulation.

“I didn’t do a simulation, just because it was more important for me to find a way and finish the job because yesterday I lost completely, more or less, all the day, so today was to restart from zero and I didn’t have time to do [the simulation],” the Italian explained.

“What I was doing is to do as many laps as possible with used tyres, and it wasn’t that bad considering the amount of laps I [had] on the tyres.”

On the comparison to Marquez, Bagnaia added: “It’s very difficult to know and to make a mix in terms of pace with [multiple] runs and pace on a race simulation.

“What I want to say is that Marc did very impressive lap times and was very fast, competitive, and when I was stopping and restarting I was on the same level but this is not a correct way to balance it.”