Pecco Bagnaia revealed he felt like “just a passenger” on his Ducati during the Indonesian Grand Prix sprint, held at Mandalika, as forces beyond his control compromised his performance. The double world champion, who had sparked renewed optimism after winning the Japanese Grand Prix the previous weekend, faced a dramatic setback by finishing last and nearly 30 seconds behind the leader in the sprint race.
His qualifying effort also struggled, with Bagnaia unable to advance past Q1 and starting 16th on the grid. This marked a return to the struggles he endured before his ripple of good form in Japan, raising concerns about the consistency of his Ducati MotoGP package amid the final rounds of the 2025 season.
Technical issues plagued Bagnaia’s ride with severe bike shaking
Although Bagnaia was racing a Ducati model theoretically identical to the one that helped him win in Japan, he experienced severe vibrations during the sprint that interfered with his ability to control the bike. He described wildly unstable conditions that forced him into a defensive mode rather than riding aggressively.
“I’m not riding. I’m just a passenger on my bike. I can’t control anything,”
Bagnaia said.
“I’m just having movement. I think four times I arrived to the first corner and corner 10 without brakes.”
During the race, he also had to frequently close the throttle because of sudden shakes, making his lap times approximately two seconds slower than leader Marco Bezzecchi‘s pace. Bagnaia acknowledged,
“Three times I needed to close the throttle, three shakes. So, difficult to imagine a race like this, a weekend like this yesterday, given what happened one week ago.”
He expressed that the stark contrast from his strong showing last week was frustrating but there was little left to prove this season.
“Luckily one week ago we had this kind of race weekend, because like this every doubt that people were having is gone,”
he added.
“So, I have nothing more to demonstrate this season.”
When asked if the problem was technical, Bagnaia stated,
“I don’t think it’s a technical problem. I think it’s more another thing out of my control.”
Reflecting on the sprint result, he said,
“Today, for me, was just over. I finished 30s from the lead, 13s from second-last. Difficult to imagine.”
Tyre construction linked to recurring issues at Mandalika and Austria
Bagnaia’s troubles at Mandalika mirror his difficulties first seen at the Austrian Grand Prix, where Michelin’s stiffer rear tyre construction was last introduced. The rear tyre’s rigidity appeared to cause shaking and hampered bike acceleration, a problem Bagnaia confirmed was identical to what he faced in Austria.
“Exactly,” he said when asked if the feeling matched his experience in Austria.
“I cannot brake harder because I was losing the front almost every corner again.”
He described the technical limits imposed by the tyre situation:
“I could not open the throttle because I was spinning a lot. I cannot accelerate in a good way because the bike was shaking a lot. So, strange.”
Frustration builds as Bagnaia struggles to replicate recent form
Despite his dominance in Japan, Bagnaia is still searching for reasons behind his current struggles, admitting confusion about the sudden loss of competitiveness with theoretically the same Ducati setup.
“I don’t understand it too,” he said, emphasizing his expectation that the bike would perform as it did previously.
“I was thinking that I was coming here with the same thing as Motegi, because it’s true that in Motegi we did things on the bike. And now, theoretically the same bike, it’s not working and is the same as before. So, I don’t understand.”
His frustration stems from knowing what he is capable of, as shown just the previous race weekend.
“It’s more a frustration because I have nothing more to show. I demonstrated one week ago what I’m able to do. I’m just frustrated because one week ago I was winning and today I was last.”
He summed up the predicament succinctly:
“And in qualifying pushing like hell I was 16th. So, something is not working anymore.”
