Ducati wants to “imitate” Red Bull’s 2023 F1 domination in MotoGP

Francesco Bagnaia won back-to-back titles for Ducati in the season-ending Valencia Grand Prix last month, becoming the first rider in history to do this with the Italian manufacturer.

It capped off a season in which Ducati was ultimately guaranteed to walk away as world champion, with the top three spots in the riders’ standings belonging to its runners (Bagnaia, Pramac’s Jorge Martin and VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi).

READ MORE: The key moments in Bagnaia's 2023 MotoGP title defence 

Ducati scored an all-time record 17 grands prix victories spread across six of its riders (Bagnaia, Martin, Bezzecchi, Johann Zarco, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Enea Bastianini), 17 pole positions, 43 total podiums (it did briefly have 44, but a penalty for Di Giannantonio in Valencia denied this), eight podium lockouts, the constructors’ championship and the teams’ title with Pramac.

In F1, Red Bull won all but one grand prix in 2023, won the drivers’ championship with Max Verstappen, the constructors’ title and were 1-2 in the standings in a year of record-breaking domination.

Speaking to Sky Sports Italy after Bagnaia’s title win, Dall’Igna says this is an “example” for Ducati to aim for next.

“Every victory must be celebrated, feeling all the satisfaction for what has been done,” Dall’Igna said.

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Gigi Dall'Igna, Ducati Corse General Manager

“And I believe that we have done something very important, great, and I hope that all the people at Ducati Corse feel truly happy in this moment and feel the importance of what we did.

“Last year I said it would be difficult to repeat ourselves, but instead we managed to do even better.

“So, who knows, we will work to do even better next year. Red Bull in F1 did better than us. We have an example to imitate.”

Bagnaia led the championship by 66 points over halfway into the campaign before a heavy crash in Barcelona and the physical after-effects of this hindered him and allowed Martin to close in.

The duo were split by 14 points coming into the Valencia GP Sunday race, with Bagnaia winning the grand prix and the title after Martin crashed out in a tangle with Marc Marquez.

“Pecco certainly went through a complicated period, he had some difficulties,” Dall’Igna added.

“But he managed to hold on in the face of an extremely fast and determined opponent. I believe that in the end you also grow thanks to these episodes and he was really good.”