What “surprised” Pecco Bagnaia being Marc Marquez’s MotoGP team-mate
Double MotoGP world champion Pecco Bagnaia says being Marc Marquez’s Ducati team-mate in 2025 has “surprised me” for how “positive” it has been for him.
Marc Marquez caused a stir in the rider market last year when he publicly turned down a seat with the Pramac Ducati squad for 2025, demanding either a works bike at Gresini or the factory team.
Ducati relented and signed him to its factory squad, forcing it into a U-turn on its original decision to promote 2024 world champion Jorge Martin.
With Marquez stepping into Pecco Bagnaia’s backyard, fireworks were expected between the pair.
However, Bagnaia has largely struggled to match Marquez in 2025, with the latter a runaway title winner while his team-mate has scored just two grands prix victories compared to the 11 he managed last year.
As Bagnaia’s struggles have gone on this season, much has been made about the psychological effect being Marquez’s team-mate has had on him.
Speaking in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Bagnaia set the record straight.
“At first, I was a little worried,” he started.
“He always said he put sticks in the wheels even of his team-mates.
“Instead, it has surprised me. Experiencing him as a team-mate has been very positive.
“In Japan, we went to a karaoke bar, drinking sake [after Marquez won his seventh world title]. It was fun.
“He is one of the strongest riders in history; in recent years, he has been dominant. You can only learn from Marc.”
Marquez will be absent from the upcoming Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix, after suffering a right shoulder injury in a lap one tangle with Marco Bezzecchi in Indonesia.
He will replaced by Ducati test rider Michele Pirro, though only at present for the Australian Grand Prix.
Bagnaia looked to make a breakthrough with his season in Japan, when he swept the weekend on a bike featuring various GP24 parts that returned the confidence he’d been missing.
But at Mandalika, he plummeted down the order again and suffered two non-scores, with Bagnaia at a total loss to explain what went wrong.
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