The most admirable part for Marc is perhaps decision to give up his big pay cheque from Honda to join Gresini Racing MotoGP and then convince Ducati to sign him. MM is so dominant both on track and off track and his energy is contagious, which make it very tough on his teammate.
The only reason he won in Motegi was because Marc was busy wrapping up the title (even though he closed the gap as soon as he got clean air both in the Sprint and Race) and Alex being way off!
I mean, I do think he won on complete merit and competitiveness. Marc may not have gone absolutely 105% like he can do sometimes, but mainly cuz he knows there would have been a pretty high likelihood that he'd have crashed if he'd tried it. Or simply made more, or costlier errors. Marc was so very obviously not comfortable, and neither were pretty much any other Ducati rider outside Pecco. Think it was just one of those 'stars aligned' situations and cant imagine there are that many alternate universes in which Marc wins.McLarenHonda wrote: ↑03 Oct 2025, 21:21The only reason he won in Motegi was because Marc was busy wrapping up the title (even though he closed the gap as soon as he got clean air both in the Sprint and Race) and Alex being way off!
Plus he was starting first…had Acosta passed him at the start he would have lost all his momentum!
There's no conspiracy here. lolf1316 wrote: ↑09 Oct 2025, 04:16I really don’t understand how much people really seem to have it out for Pecco. I think it’s a bit like Vettel where having had a lot of success with the best machinery has created a lot of resentment where people are so happy (even anxious) to see him fail - despite what nice people both seem to be.
Pecco was absolutely back at Motegi, on pole ans. faster than everyone else in the race - even if Marc may have not been all out pushing, no one else was even remotely close. Clearly something very weird is going on with the bike - the mixed messages coming out of VR46 and Ducati about the Mugello test all but confirms that there’s something that Ducati don’t want to let on. Digia reported some similarly weird behaviour in Mugello - fast one minute, nowhere the next - and it probably takes a generational talent like Marquez to ride around it.
I look forward to the 2026 bike being a bit more ‘normal’ and then we’ll see what a Pecco at ease with his bike can do against Marquez. I’d like to think the remaining races in 2025 might also give some more “Motegi moments” - if it does though, I’m sure the detractors will still have lots of reasons why it didn’t really count.
I think Pecco deserves at least one more year in the factory team. He's having a very rough year, but it would be quite unceremonious to ditch him for this after what he's achieved before. Clearly there's still need for Ducati themselves to do something on their end to make the bike more rideable before they think simply switching riders will improve their overall situation.
No one said anything about conspiracy - I’m talking about fans and commentators of the sport who seem happy to see Bagnaia struggling. Absolutely Ducati want him to succeed, that’s without question, but there are a lot of people who had an issue with him dominating on the best bike and now take every opportunity to say that this is ‘proof’ he was never great to begin with.Seanspeed wrote: ↑13 Oct 2025, 17:39There's no conspiracy here. lolf1316 wrote: ↑09 Oct 2025, 04:16I really don’t understand how much people really seem to have it out for Pecco. I think it’s a bit like Vettel where having had a lot of success with the best machinery has created a lot of resentment where people are so happy (even anxious) to see him fail - despite what nice people both seem to be.
Pecco was absolutely back at Motegi, on pole ans. faster than everyone else in the race - even if Marc may have not been all out pushing, no one else was even remotely close. Clearly something very weird is going on with the bike - the mixed messages coming out of VR46 and Ducati about the Mugello test all but confirms that there’s something that Ducati don’t want to let on. Digia reported some similarly weird behaviour in Mugello - fast one minute, nowhere the next - and it probably takes a generational talent like Marquez to ride around it.
I look forward to the 2026 bike being a bit more ‘normal’ and then we’ll see what a Pecco at ease with his bike can do against Marquez. I’d like to think the remaining races in 2025 might also give some more “Motegi moments” - if it does though, I’m sure the detractors will still have lots of reasons why it didn’t really count.
We've all watched bike racing to know that sometimes, everything just falls perfectly for a specific rider+bike+track combination on a given weekend. Zarco at Le Mans this year on that Honda, for instance. There's really no reason to believe that Pecco is 'back' based on a sample of one weekend, especially when he was clearly nowhere the next weekend.
Nobody is out to 'get' Pecco, it's just a reasonable point of view to have at this moment in time. And yes, I think it's been obvious since pretty early in the season that the GP25 is not the best or most consistent of bikes to ride. Nobody is saying this is Pecco at his best. But it's also his job to do what he can with the bike, and he's simply not done a great job of it this season overall, and until he can prove otherwise on an actual regular basis, it's hard to think he's 'back'. Motegi was clearly a weird weekend in terms of the overall competitive order.
