Five-time MotoGP champion Jorge Lorenzo believes that multiple factors are behind Francesco Bagnaia’s current struggles at Ducati.
Bagnaia’s fifth-place finish in the 2025 standings is his worst MotoGP season since joining the factory Bologna outfit in 2021, having finished first or second in each of the previous four seasons.
The arrival of Marc Marquez, who dominated to a ninth crown this term, saw him begin winning races immediately on a bike that Bagnaia had struggled to adapt to all season.
Lorenzo theorises that Marquez’s arrival at what had been Bagnaia’s project in Bologna undermined the Italian’s confidence, as the Spaniard quickly proved the faster rider.
“We have to understand that Bagnaia was in an ideal, almost idyllic situation,” Lorenzo told GPOne.
“The only rider to have won two world championships with Ducati, Italian on an Italian bike, the factory all with him… he was perfect.
“Then Ducati decided to take a rooster among the roosters, seven, eight world titles, stronger in the media, plus it happened that technically he was stronger.
“That psychologically starts to create doubts in you, you lose a bit of confidence, you have less confidence.
“Then, when you go on the track, subconsciously you go slower. I think this year’s bike also has something that doesn’t make him feel completely comfortable.
“That’s my theory: it’s not just mental. But everything coming together – Marquez much stronger, the bike he doesn’t like – creates so much difference.”
Jorge Lorenzo: Francesco Bagnaia one of the ‘big disappointments’ of 2025 season
Lorenzo even went so far as to suggest that Bagnaia’s 2025 campaign was one of the season’s “big disappointments.”
The Torinese rider finished behind the Marquez brothers, Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi, and KTM’s Pedro Acosta.
On delivering his 2026 predictions, he shared: “The real question for me is another one: who will be the two surprises next year and who will be the two disappointments? Every year it happens.
“In 2025, the big disappointments were Bagnaia and [Jorge] Martin for different reasons.
“[As for] surprises? Alex Marquez and Bezzecchi.”
READ MORE – Francesco Bagnaia ‘surprised but happy’ ahead of Ducati’s 2026 MotoGP upgrades
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