Francesco Bagnaia has offered insight into Ducati’s ongoing tyre woes, citing “very strange consumption” of the rear tyre as a key factor hampering his performance in the early stages of the 2026 MotoGP season.
The reigning double world champion has found himself struggling in the closing laps of races, a trend highlighted by Valentino Rossi during last year’s Hall of Fame dinner:
“Do you know what the biggest problem is? That his rear tyre drops a lot. During the last laps, Pecco is slower. And [in 2024] he was very strong during the last laps.”
Despite improvements in front-end feeling over the winter, Bagnaia’s issues with rear grip have persisted into 2026. The problem was particularly evident at COTA, where he lost a Sprint victory to Aprilia’s Jorge Martin on the final lap. Although Martin was the only rider to use a medium rear tyre (while others, including Bagnaia, selected the soft), Bagnaia’s significant drop-off in pace proved decisive.
On the penultimate lap, Bagnaia was slower than nearly the entire field, and moving to a medium tyre for the grand prix did little to help—he faded from fifth to tenth in the closing stages.
“Even if I wasn’t pushing, I finished the rear tyre,” Bagnaia explained. “The last two laps I was completely on the limit, risking a crash just leaning on the right side.”
Bagnaia believes the Ducati GP26’s handling is at the root of the problem:
“[It’s] very strange consumption from the rear, and right now I think that our bike needs to turn with the rear, because the front is pushing… We cannot stop the bike well, the [front] is pushing quite hard, and we need to turn with the rear, and we destroy it.”
In contrast, Marc Marquez—his factory teammate—has struggled more at the start of races but remains strong at the finish.
Bagnaia’s concerns are echoed by fellow GP26 rider Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46), who noted:
“Our rear is really good, it’s just that we use the rear too much for doing everything… In the last years we were ahead of the competition with rear tyre control. But now that others have improved the front, controlling the rear alone is not enough.”
Di Giannantonio added that Ducati now lags behind Aprilia and KTM in braking and entry, saying, “When I was behind the Aprilias and Pedro [Acosta], I just couldn’t stop the bike like them.”
While di Giannantonio currently leads the Ducati charge with back-to-back pole positions and the factory’s only grand prix podium of the season, Bagnaia sits ninth in the world championship heading into the European rounds.
With Ducati’s traditional rear grip advantage now under threat from rivals’ front-end improvements, Bagnaia and his team face a crucial task in rebalancing the GP26 as the season progresses.
