Francesco Bagnaia counting down days until end of Ducati MotoGP tenure

Francesco Bagnaia says the last three rounds of the 2026 MotoGP struggles will be about “surviving”, with no solution in sight for his ongoing issues with Ducati’s GP26. The three-time world champion had high hopes from last weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix, having identified Sepang as his best opportunity to score a big result before leaving the Borgo Panigale marque at the end of the year.

Bagnaia had managed to ride through his bike problems at last year’s Malaysian GP to secure pole position and a Sprint victory, giving him confidence that he could perform well again this time around. But after qualifying 10th on the grid and smashing his windscreen in frustration, the Italian could only muster a 13th place result on Sunday, having even slipped outside the points at one stage.

Asked whether he was counting the days until the end of the year, Bagnaia replied: “[Yes, but] not just from this moment.” Pressed further as to what he could expect from the final races, with the evidence that the Ducati had failed to work to his liking at one of his favourite tracks, he replied “surviving”.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images Bagnaia has been suffering from grip issues since the start of the year, but was still able to secure some headline results in the first half of the season - including four consecutive Sunday podiums and a sprint win at Brno.

However, his form nosedived after the summer break, with the last eight rounds yielding a pair of sixth-place sprint finishes as his best results. The 29-year-old said he had been unable to push for even a single lap at Sepang on Sunday, with his performance deteriorating particularly badly in the closing stages of the race.

“It looked exactly like I was expecting, no more no less,” he admitted. “On Saturday, I was just lucky that it started to rain. But on Sunday, I saw that my limit was the grip.

I tried to manage it. “Even managing it, after five laps I was without the rear tyre and I needed to start thinking about just finishing the race. The last lap I did was 2m05.1s.

For me it's something unbelievable, considering what I know that I can do here, that is what it is. “It's like this and we need to accept it. Three to go and try to do the maximum.” Asked how difficult it was to reach the finish on worn tyres, he replied: “It was dead easy, because I wasn't able to do any push lap.

It was like doing an easy run.” Bagnaia’s last lap at Sepang - a 2m05.143s - was a full two seconds slower than his team-mate Marc Marquez , who had backed off considerably as he celebrated his seventh grand prix win of the season. Among other Ducati riders, Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli were also able to lap within the 2m02s bracket in the closing stages of the race, while Fabio di Giannantonio ’s pace dipped into the mid 2m03s.

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