Pecco was able to share the box with a phenomenon
Francesco Bagnaia after eight years in 2027 will leave Ducati to join Aprilia. The three-time world champion shared the box of the official Borgo Panigale team with Jack Miller, Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Pecco proved to be faster than the Australian and was not dethroned by his compatriot, although the shoulder injury in the first-ever Sprint certainly did not make the task easy for a Bastianini who arrived at the official Ducati team with great momentum after a super season in Gresini.
The comparison with Marc Marquez, however, proved to be unequal for Francesco Bagnaia, at least in 2025. The atmosphere inside the box, however, never got too heated: “I have never had problems with my teammates, I have always been very calm with everyone – Bagnaia said as a guest on the podcast BSMT (Basement) hosted by Gianluca Gazzoli – Marc in the end is an intelligent person, he adapted immediately, we had a good relationship right away and very often we discussed different situations and technical solutions, it was a good coexistence. Sometimes he even tried to give me advice when I was in difficulty, for example he advised me to try racing with a different tire. In the end, a great champion is a champion if he has a great rival, so you look for rivalry.”
Read more Ecclestone: “Hamilton will adapt to the new F1 better than Verstappen. Ferrari cannot do worse”
Bagnaia also explained that in 2024 Ducati had informed him in advance that he would have Marc Marquez in the box: “The day before the press release came out, Luigi Dall’Igna, Davide Tardozzi and Mauro Grassilli came to tell me this and honestly I expected it a bit because anyway the move to take him to Gresini was in projection of the move to the official team and so I already expected it. Honestly, I look at his data and he is extremely precise in what he does, so it helps to learn. I have always taken the possibility of fighting against him as a teammate as a stimulus.”
