Bagnaia's puzzle continues as shaking Ducati leaves him baffled in Australia

Ducati MotoGP star Francesco Bagnaia endured another miserable afternoon in the Australian Grand Prix sprint, finishing more than 30 seconds off the lead with no clear answers for his lack of pace.

Bagnaia started 11th on the grid but quickly fell back, dropping to 19th by lap four. He lost another position to LCR rookie Somkiat Chantra, only to regain a spot late when Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer retired with three laps remaining.

For most of the race, Bagnaia was lapping in the low 1m30s and, although he did pick up pace late on, his fastest lap was still two seconds slower than race winner Marco Bezzecchi’s.

While Phillip Island has proved to be a tough weekend for the entire Ducati stable so far, with none of its riders qualifying on the front row or finishing on the podium, Bagnaia’s struggles were the most pronounced as he finished second-to-last, only leading test rider Michele Pirro.

The Italian was once again left scratching his head after the sprint, which has always been his weak point in MotoGP, admitting he had no explanation for the severe shaking his bike suffered on Saturday.

“Very difficult [race],” he said. “But we are on it [and] checking the data. We are trying to understand things. It is difficult because it's extremely clear from the data what is happening. The bike is shaking a lot, but we don't know why.

“I don't know how many times this season the team tried to solve the situation. But it's something that we understood that is not something reliable to the electronics. It's something else and we are trying to understand what it is.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

On Friday, Bagnaia experienced another strange phenomenon as he rode two identical bikes that exhibited different characteristics. While one worked more to his liking and allowed him to earn a direct entry into Q2, the other left him several tenths off the pace.

However, things got worse for the Italian on his preferred bike as the business part of the weekend began, leaving him a mere “passenger” in qualifying and the sprint.

“It is strange because yesterday I was feeling a bit better. This morning [also], I was feeling a bit better,” he said.

“In qualifying, I started to feel something strange. And in the sprint race, again, I wasn't able to ride the bike. I was a passenger again, just trying to control the shaking. Many times I had to close the gaps exiting from the corners, and this is strange.”

Bagnaia’s long-running issues this year have led to question marks over his long-term future at Ducati, with his contract due to expire at the end of the 2026 season.

When it was suggested to him that he cannot afford another season like this, Bagnaia said: “Honestly, to finish [2025] like this is tough. But luckily, I had Motegi. And Motegi is something that shows [what I am capable of], but also helps the team, because we know that in a normal situation, we are able to fight. 

“We just need to understand why, just in Motegi, we had this kind of situation. So it's difficult to understand it. Because, theoretically, everything is the same. So it's something else that is missing. We are not understanding what it is.”

Bagnaia will carry a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race for impeding another rider in qualifying, meaning he will take the start from 14th place.