Pecco Bagnaia: “I don’t think” Marc Marquez will wage psychological “strategy”

The pairing of Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia in the factory Ducati team for this year’s MotoGP World Championship promises to be one of the most prolific in the championship’s history, but also one that could generate a high degree of tension.

Both Ducati Lenovo Team riders expect and are expected to not only fight for but to win the MotoGP riders’ title this year, and both have the hunger to achieve it: Bagnaia thanks to losing out in 2024 to Jorge Martin; and Marquez having gone without a title for five years now.

Pecco Bagnaia on Marc Marquez's mental warfare

Marquez’s own history of championship battles includes a number of mental battles against his rivals, including those who actually posed very little threat in the points like Alex Rins in 2019.

Bagnaia, on the other hand, has largely avoided the mental games and psychological warfare, and so the impending fight with Marquez has the potential to expose Bagnaia in ways he hasn’t experienced before.

The Italian, though, is sure that, at least for now, there will be no “strategy” from Marquez to disturb him mentally.

“We don’t have any agreement, honestly,” Bagnaia said in the pre-event press conference for this weekend’s Thai Grand Prix about the potential for Marquez to employ psychological games in this year’s title battle.

“But we are starting the season, so it’s not a secret that we both want to win the championship – we are here for that, and the ambition in our team is to win the championship.

“So, we will have to do the maximum, I think many times this season we will fight. I don’t think he will start already here doing some strategy because the most important thing right now is to improve, to learn from the new bike – and it’s true that the base is the GP24 bike, but every season something is changing.

“So, we will try to adapt to it, and we don’t want that the other manufacturers close the gap to us, so we have also to work together to improve still, and then in the race fight and the best will win.”

Bagnaia references infamous MotoGP crash

Bagnaia even referenced an infamous moment in Ducati’s MotoGP history – the 2016 Argentinian Grand Prix, where Andrea Iannone crashed while trying to pass Andrea Dovizioso in the penultimate corner of the race for second place – in the context of his new partnership with Marquez.

“I think it will be an intense fight, we know how strong Marc [Marquez] is and how good he is in a race, and we have to be prepared for it,” Bagnaia said.

“Let’s see what will happen, but I don’t think we will see something like Argentina 2016 between teammates.

“So, let’s wait and see what will happen during the season.

“I think many other riders for also one single event can be fast, or maybe faster than us, so we have to be prepared for everything.”

This is something Bagnaia is also anticipating in Thailand this weekend, and he named several riders who he thought could challenge himself and Marquez.

“I think that, looking at the lap times in the test, Aprilia with [Marco] Bezzecchi was strong, was competitive, and also the other Ducati riders because both [Franco] Morbidelli and Alex Marquez were fast and competitive,” he said.

“It’s difficult to say now for the championship who will be the main contenders and who will be more consistent, but I think, for the first race: all the Ducati riders, [plus] Aprilia with Bezzecchi and KTM with [Pedro] Acosta, can fight for the win.”

Speaking specifically about this weekend’s season opener, Bagnaia has now won the first Grand Prix of the year for consecutive seasons: at Portimao in 2023, and in Qatar last year.

“Winning is the best feeling possible, so we will try to continue this streak, it would be great,” he said. “But it’s not mandatory.

“One thing that I wanted to learn from last year is that sometimes it’s better to keep calm and analyse better the situation.

“But if I see that the possibility of a win is there, I will try to catch it in the best way that I can and I hope that it will be a good battle.”