Ducati MotoGP rider Pecco Bagnaia says he has accepted that there is a fundamental mismatch between his strengths and those of the 2025 bike - even if it makes him "mad".
Though Bagnaia is just 20 points back from the championship lead after five rounds, the true performance picture is that he has not been the fastest rider at any of those five rounds - and that new team-mate Marc Marquez has consistently shown more pace.
This was true again in Friday practice at Le Mans, even if Bagnaia ended the day a solid third, 0.184s off the pace.
Though much of the new-for-2025 Ducati was discarded in the pre-season, most notably the new engine, what is different has been enough for Bagnaia to feel unsettled in the early stages of the campaign, specifically in terms of corner entry.
He initially felt limited in terms of being able to trigger a controlled rear slide, but now seems more hamstrung by a general front instability that he indicated team-mate Marquez is much more adept at working around.
And while Bagnaia had hoped the first in-season day of testing at Jerez would provide answers, it hadn't - and he is now resigned to there being no quick fix.
“Finally I understood after six grands prix that what I want from the bike is not there anymore," he summed up on Friday at Le Mans. "So I need to find performance in different ways.
"We tried everything, to find back what I want, that is braking-entry in a more solid way.
Bagnaia qualifying gaps to Marquez
Thailand: 0.173s
Argentina: 0.351s
Austin: 0.523s
Qatar: 1.081s
Spain: 0.112s
"This season I feel much more movement from the front in this area. So today I just tried to adapt myself and do a step by my own [as opposed to by changing the bike], and it worked, finally.
"I am not confident to do it - but it's the only way to be more competitive. I'm a bit- not 'upset', but I feel mad that my greatest point, that was braking-entry, is not anymore a good thing. But it is what it is.”
Bagnaia insisted that just going back to a 2024-spec bike - which is in theory easy to execute, especially as the 2024 engine has been homologated again - is still "not a good idea". He previously acknowledged that Marquez's level of performance shows the potential of the new Ducati Desmosedici.
And he also said both his crew and Ducati are doing an "amazing job" to try to help him.
But he lamented: "It's not an easy process, because it's from 2020 that I'm riding in this way. The bikes were changing but the feeling was very similar in braking-entry.
"And this season [it is] not. I can't find this feeling back.”
It means his confidence "is not at the top" - and while the current performance level is acceptable, he indicates it is not befitting of what he'd achieved in MotoGP in recent years.
"I'm a rider that in the last four seasons won 30 grands prix, was the one who won the most. I will be happy when I continue winning and [when] I will have the feeling to win again.
"The one I won in Austin was really good for me, but the fastest [rider] was missing [because Marquez crashed]. So I need to fight and win against the fastest - that is Marc this morning. This is the only way to make me happy again, but we've started in a good way here.”
Chassis specs
Ducati introduced a modified chassis in the Jerez test that was also being used on Friday by Marquez as one of his two bikes.
Bagnaia has not had the time to test it out properly and said he might switch to it come Aragon in June - though he presumably means the post-race test rather than the weekend.
But Marquez insisted in any case that the chassis was a Ducati request to try out and not a performance differentiator. Though it carried him to a new record MotoGP lap on Friday, he's convinced that kind of pace was also available from his standard bike.
He says that this newer chassis, rather than bringing an immediate performance boost, is one Ducati engineers believe can offer a higher performance ceiling going forward.
"Why? I don't know," Marquez admitted. "But they told me that. So at the moment I'm trying because I have a good feeling with both bikes - I have the same feeling, this is the most important."
Marquez looked to have a lot of pace in hand through Friday in whichever configuration, and while two riders - Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo - got within two tenths of his benchmark in the end, they were helped by Marquez going so fast on his first 'qualifying sim' that he decided he could afford to run the second with a medium rear instead of the more performant soft rear.
