Francesco Bagnaia feeling more confident after MotoGP…

Francesco Bagnaia says his confidence is returning after a stirring battle with factory Ducati team-mate Marc Marquez on the first lap of Saturday’s Americas GP sprint.

While Marquez ultimately led every lap of the race to maintain his perfect win record in 2025, Bagnaia nosed ahead of his team-mate on no less than three occasions on the field’s first tour of COTA.

Although Bagnaia was third by the end of the first lap behind Alex Marquez, and remained there until the finish, leading the factory Ducati newcomer for the first time this season gave the Italian incumbent a much-needed psychological boost.

After a rocket start from the second row, Bagnaia got ahead of Marquez into the first corner, only to lose it again into the following right-hander.

“The start went perfectly,” said Bagnaia. “I was very precise on the lights and as soon as I saw the opportunity to get into corner one [first], I took it. I stopped well, but he managed to cross and get back in front. But to make such a start was very positive.”

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team (Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images)

Then came the highlight of Bagnaia’s opening lap – a racy, aggressive move to snatch back the lead at Turn 3. While starts can be a lottery, demoting Marc a second time would not have gone down well with the eight-time world champion. Marquez is a master at the Austin track, and particularly in the first sector.

“I think he wasn’t expecting it, so it was fun,” continued Bagnaia. “Being able to pass Marc and lead him at COTA is a pretty good sign that the confidence must be coming back. Yeah, I did it twice!”

“Very close to crashing…”

After the sprint, Marc Marquez confirmed his surprise, admitting, “I didn’t expect that move at Turn 3. Then I [took back the lead] a bit aggressively at Turn 7 – but it was the time to do it.”

Yet Bagnaia (and Alex) would lead one more time on the opening lap. This, however, was the result of a major mistake from Marquez that had the Spaniard out of the seat.

That Marc could recover so quickly to reclaim the lead two corners later at the final turn, and head the field over the line, offered some sobering perspective.

“I didn’t understand how it was possible to see him again leading after this mistake. He was very close to crashing. Luckily he didn’t crash, because if he had fallen off he would have taken me out because I was on that trajectory.

“I was expecting Alex to overtake me in the last corner, but then I saw that both of them overtook me. So it was an intense moment.

“I didn’t take advantage of this moment to be closer to them. Because after that I just lost one and a half seconds in two laps. And it [happened too fast] to think about the win. Marc just controlled today.”

When asked if this third place felt more satisfying than those he had registered over the first two race weekends of the season, Bagnaia replied in the affirmative.

“The points are the same, but I feel better about it. Because today I felt like I could fight. It was something that didn’t happen to me [yet in 2025]... and at a track where Marc is extremely strong. So it’s good; it’s positive.”