Jakarta – Former Honda boss Livio Suppo believes the pairing of Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia will not be easy to manage. He warns Ducati to avoid creating any impression of favoritism.
Starting from the 2025 MotoGP season, Bagnaia will share Ducati’s garage with Marquez. Many have drawn comparisons between this duo and Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo when they were teammates at Yamaha.
Bagnaia and Marc Marquez are arguably the strongest riders in MotoGP today. Bagnaia is the MotoGP world champion for 2022 and 2023, and despite being surpassed by Jorge Martin as this year’s champion, he still holds the record for the most wins (11) this season.
On the other hand, Marquez remains a six-time premier-class world champion. The Baby Alien has proven he is far from finished, shining again with Gresini. Riding the GP23, Ducati’s last-year-spec bike, Marc Marquez has been highly competitive, securing three grand prix victories—matching Jorge Martin’s total wins.
Suppo believes the Borgo Panigale team must strike a balance in how they treat both riders, ensuring Francesco Bagnaia doesn’t feel Ducati is leaning toward Marquez.
“In the end, whether they’re teammates or not, it doesn’t matter much on the track. They are two incredibly strong riders, and it will heavily depend on the balance within the team,” Suppo told GPOne.
“A rider like Marc, who is also very charismatic, means they will need to manage things well in the Ducati garage to ensure Pecco doesn’t feel like they ‘love’ Marc more.”
“Bagnaia, after all, has already won two consecutive world titles and only lost this year despite having far more victories than the eventual champion. This shows he is incredibly fast, and if he learns to make fewer mistakes, he will be very hard to beat.”
“So, this will be a team that is not easy to manage, but it is undoubtedly a very strong one,” Livio Suppo concluded.
