Australian MotoGP complicates Ducati's 2027 Marc Marquez contract negotiations

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It is onerous to recollect a time when a producer’s championship victory loomed so massive – 2015?

2025 was certainly a monumental yr for the Italian model, with Marc Márquez having dominated an injury-plagued marketing campaign with Manufacturing unit Ducati main as much as Sunday’s Indonesian Grand Prix, clinching a milestone seventh MotoGP world title.

However his absence with a sophisticated shoulder damage meant the extra somber parts of the marketing campaign took the brunt of the highlight’s merciless gaze, and the Triple Crown celebrations have been sidelined.

In an excellent world, Ducati’s good momentum ought to proceed and not using a hitch in 2025. Its manufacturing unit line-up features a complete of 9 MotoGP world titles, with Pecco Bagnaia nonetheless thought-about its high expertise as of final yr. Nonetheless, Bagnaia’s already underwhelming marketing campaign seems to have taken a nosedive because the summer season break.

For the reason that Austrian Grand Prix, Bagnaia has scored simply 61 factors. He solely achieved double-digit outcomes for a whole race weekend as soon as, and that was a clear sweep on the Japanese Grand Prix. He has not scored within the final 4 races, together with the Australian Grand Prix. Because the scrutiny grows, the solutions grow to be extra unsure.

What’s actually complicated is that Bagnaia’s bike, which gained his second consecutive race at Motegi, is believed to have been outfitted with numerous elements of the GP24, together with a trip peak adjuster, however nothing has modified since then.

“What occurs after Austria? I do not know learn how to reply that. I would slightly transfer on,” he supplied on Sunday at Phillip Island.

Ducati’s lack of transparency about the entire state of affairs did not assist issues, particularly when it got here to the GP25 Misano take a look at that truly made him so aggressive at Motegi, after which so quiet afterwards. Ducati has publicly acknowledged that it has no thought what’s going on. Behind the scenes, dissatisfaction is being expressed to the media.

Stability was a giant downside for Bagnaia on the Australian Grand Prix, together with his GP25 resembling a procuring cart with solely three wheels at occasions. Ducati tried to regain confidence by turning the bike over all weekend till Sunday morning.

Within the dash, Bagnaia was 2.5 seconds per lap slower than race winner Marco Bezzecchi, shifting him to nineteenth place, greater than 30 seconds behind the chief. Beginning 14th on the grid after receiving a penalty knocking on the door of the highest 10, his tempo improved considerably within the Grand Prix as he crashed on lap 24 of 27. Nonetheless, it was nonetheless slightly below 0.4 seconds per lap slower than the main GP25 (Fabio Di Giannantonio in second place).

2025 Australian MotoGP: Bagnaia GP vs Dash
wrap	GP	dash
2	1 minute 29.634 seconds	1 minute 29.752 seconds
3	29.997	30.455
4	28.752	30.404
5	28.429	31.789
6	28.513	29.824
7	28.718	30.36
8	28.535	30.063
9	28.277	30.222
10	28.394	29.502
11	28.309	29.477
12	28.428	29.265
13	28.221	29.658
14	28.434
15	28.73
16	28.487
17	28.602
18	28.707
19	28.882
20	28.559
twenty one	28.88
twenty two	28.828
twenty three	28.626
twenty 4	crashed
twenty 5	–
26	–
27	–
common tempo	1 minute 28.679 seconds	1 minute 30 seconds 064 seconds
tempo distinction	–	1.385 seconds

“Indescribable” have been the phrases Bagnaia used when reflecting on his difficult weekend at Phillip Island and, certainly, the hunch he has confronted since Motegi. The troubling facet of this difficulty is that Phillip Island’s proof of Mandalica’s distinctive situations (excessive warmth, more durable tire carcasses) appeared to elucidate Marquez and DiGiannantonio’s difficulties, however not Bagnaia’s.

Whereas Bagnaia stumbled at Phillip Island, Di Giannantonio excelled.

Gresini takes Fermin Aldeguer and Alex Marquez 1-3 in GP24 as Ducati overcomes an eventful weekend in Mandalica. At Phillip Island, they might not escape the rising menace of rivals and the conspicuous absence of Marc Marquez.

For the primary time because the 2020 European Grand Prix in Valencia, Ducati didn’t qualify for the entrance row. Later that Saturday, Ducati’s first dash podium end because the period started in 2023 got here to an finish. Alex Marquez seemingly had the tempo to get into the field, however selected the unsuitable entrance tire. In the meantime, Di Giannantonio’s lackluster tenth place on the grid hampered his probabilities, given his robust tempo all weekend.

Ducati have been spared the identical humiliation on Sunday as Di Giannantonio moved into second place regardless of battling a extreme fever. He had the tempo to problem the dominant Aprilias, however the beginning place got here at a price. On the time of his crash on lap 24 whereas working twelfth, Bagnaia was roughly 11 seconds behind the subsequent finest GP25.

Bagnaia’s stability points have been notably evident throughout Sunday morning’s warm-up, when his GP25 twisted violently down the primary straight. Ducati threw him a radical set-up within the warm-up in an try and remedy this and restore the front-end confidence he lacked, however this solely made the issue worse.

Di Giannantonio’s stats may even have been seen. He additionally felt some shaking, however managed to deal with it. “Properly, the bikes at Phillip Island transfer properly. We began the weekend with the bikes shifting properly, and we have been simply going quick… Positive, stability is essential, however in conditions like this for everybody, it’s important to make the most effective of the state of affairs as you may.”

Di Giannantonio is a robust activist at Phillip Island, scoring his first podium on the circuit in 2023. However what he and his VR46 workforce did to the GP25 (which is seen as nearer to Marquez than Bagnaia) clearly labored, but it surely’s additionally clear that it may’t be replicated in Bagnaia. Ducati can even be making suggestions based mostly on that knowledge.

Di Giannantonio has been inconsistent this season. Nonetheless, even when Bagnaia was having a very onerous time, Di Giannantonio was usually capable of decide up some respectable factors. Di Giannantonio took third and fifth as Bagnaia pulled away from Misano with no factors. He was eighth and ninth at Mandalika, and fifth and 2nd at Phillip Island.

Ducati faces harder contract negotiations with Marquez for 2027

Ducati confronted quite a lot of criticism final yr once they signed Marc Marquez after elbowing Jorge Martin out of the manufacturing unit workforce. That call is now immeasurably justified. But it surely additionally created one other query: What would have occurred if Marquez and Martin had been teammates?

Bagnaia’s poor efficiency final yr was unthinkable. In truth, it is nonetheless troublesome to contemplate the truth that a rider as gifted as him has fallen so removed from grace.

All of this places 2027 in a distinct state of affairs. Bagnaia stated in an interview earlier than the Australian Grand Prix that he considers himself a Ducati fanatic. It will depend on how lengthy he personally can endure this hunch, and certainly how lengthy Ducati can endure, if the state of affairs doesn’t enhance subsequent yr.

With all manufacturing unit contracts expiring on the finish of 2026, the rider market will probably be scorching subsequent yr. Marquez will probably be on the heart of this. Now again at his finest, he’s in full management of his future. Ducati will naturally be eager to maintain him.

Ducati have stayed away from big-money contracts because the coronavirus pandemic, however will want a giant wage to maintain Marquez. And after his absence confirmed how essential he was to Ducati in GP25, Marquez holds all of the playing cards in these negotiations.

Whereas it isn’t fairly a clean verify state of affairs, I am undecided how Ducati can resolve on phrases…

Raul Fernandes, Trackhouse Aprilia, 2025 Australian MotoGP
© Gold & Goose

A uncertain rider with Marquez-level expectations has lastly proven his potential.

The Australian Grand Prix was at all times poised for a giant win with Marc Marquez absent. Aprilia stepped in to fill the void, however the rider who was imagined to win on Sunday had already ruined his probabilities on the Indonesian Grand Prix.

Marco Bezzecchi was given two lengthy lap penalties on the Australian Grand Prix after colliding with Marquez on the opening lap of the Mandalica race.

The Aprilia manufacturing unit rider overcame Raul Fernandes and took a commanding victory within the dash. A fast begin within the Grand Prix to scale back the injury of his penalty recommended that his tempo was adequate to steer from begin to end.

2025 Australian MotoGP: Prime 3 Tempo Evaluation
wrap	RF25(H/M)	FD49(H/M)	MB72(H/M)
2	1 minute 28.206 seconds	1 minute 28.581 seconds	1 minute 28.018 seconds
3	28.672	28.391	27.865
4	January twenty eighth	28.525	28.168
5	28.251	28.184	29.957(LL)
6	28.123	28.074	28.341
7	27.895 (PB)	27.99 (PB)	29.922(LL)
8	27.905	28.474	28.397
9	28.058	28.179	28.601
10	27.969	28.243	28.159
11	28.107	28.152	28.216
12	28.074	28.064	28.083
13	27.947	28.008	28.1
14	28.012	28.172	27.831 (PB)
15	28.069	28.167	28.182
16	28.085	28.125	28.167
17	28.301	28.242	28.072
18	28.17	28.29	28.063
19	28.398	28.309	28.453
20	28.172	28.278	28.484
twenty one	28.434	28.114	28.696
twenty two	28.406	28.2	28.855
twenty three	28.574	28.502	28.296
twenty 4	28.847	28.598	28.078
twenty 5	28.904	28.704	28.367
26	29.187	28.339	28.8
27	29.268	28.859	28.577
common tempo	1 minute 28.233 seconds	1 minute 28.299 seconds	1 minute 28.286 seconds
distinction	–	0.066 seconds	0.053 seconds

To Bezzecchi’s credit score, on the primary lengthy lap he was about 1.7 seconds behind Fernandez, and on the second lap he was about 2 seconds behind. He returned to sixth from the latter place and labored his approach as much as third, though his tempo was considerably restricted as a consequence of heavy use of tires to reduce penalties.

However that does not take away from Fernandes’ work. The Trackhouse rider was fast from the beginning at Phillip Island and was good sufficient to race on a medium rear in observe.

Bezzecchi’s penalty gave him an opportunity, however there was some doubt as as to if he would take it. In any case, the rider’s finest leads to 4 seasons have been two fifth-place finishes in Grands Prix.

However that is additionally the rider who broke Marc Marquez’s rookie Moto2 win report in 2021, with Fernandes spending only one yr within the intermediate class earlier than making a disastrous transfer to MotoGP with KTM in 2022.

In a approach, he was fortunate to get a contract extension with Trackhouse this season. Nonetheless, the workforce, particularly Davide Brivio, at all times felt there was extra to Fernandes than his common kind really indicated.

It stays to be seen how he would fare in a good struggle with Bezzecchi. The latter’s common tempo was simply 0.053 seconds slower than Fernandes. Nonetheless, Fernandez was capable of preserve that tempo for a lot of the 27 laps, at one level rising his result in greater than three seconds, earlier than steadily loosening his lead.

The encouraging factor about Fernandes’ kind is that he got here off the again of a robust run in very completely different situations at Mandalika. Whereas Phillip Island is a little bit of a novel venue in itself, its consistency solely offers confidence to riders who’ve lacked it every so often.

This victory propels Aprilia in direction of the milestone of 300 Grand Prix wins in all courses. If Aprilia can sustain this manner within the final three rounds, we’ve an fascinating outlook for 2026…