Francesco Bagnaia: 2020 engine brake freedom transformed the Ducati

There are various theories about exactly when and why the Ducati Desmosedici became the most adaptable bike on the MotoGP grid, capable of winning with a range of riding styles.

But for reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia, the key moment came in 2020.

The Italian was just 15th in the standings during his rookie campaign for Pramac the previous season, when factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso finished title runner-up to Marc Marquez for the third year in a row.

Remaining with the satellite Pramac team but upgraded to the latest spec Desmosedici, Bagnaia was suddenly a much stronger force in 2020. 

Reflecting on when the Ducati became a more corner-friendly machine, after years of relying heavily on its straight-line performance, Bagnaia reflected:

“It changed a bit when the engineers understood that riders in Ducati can have different riding styles. It was in 2020.

“In 2019, the situation between factory teams and satellite team was quite different compared to now.

“My biggest problem was the braking, because I couldn't do what I wanted with my engine brake.

“And as soon as we started changing it in 2020, when they started to adapt the engine brake to all the [different] riders, we started to increase a lot our performance.

“Because I was using a completely opposite engine brake [setting] compared to Dovizioso, who was the reference.

“As soon we started doing that, we started to see a bike that was turning, a bike that had a lot of corner speed. 

"And the good thing about our bike [now] is that many riding styles can adapt to our bike, because of that.

“We don't have just one setting: one engine brake, one power delivery [etc]. We have more [choices] because every rider needs his own [settings] and we are working on our own every weekend.”

Marc Marquez, arriving at Gresini Ducati from Honda this season, said setting up the engine braking to suit his riding style is a top priority at each event.

“When we arrive at each race track, we have the data from [the Ducati riders] last year but especially on the engine brake each rider has his style,” said the eight time world champion.

“And that is what we take more time to set up in a good way, for my style.”

Marquez claimed his first Ducati wins with victory in the Aragon Sprint and Grand Prix.

The Spaniard will skip the GP24 model and move straight to a GP25 next year, as team-mate to Bagnaia at the factory team.

Asked how the current factory-spec Desmosedici can be improved, Bagnaia replied:

“It's impossible to have the perfect bike, but in some situations, we are missing more traction compared to the past and it’s something that I'm asking the engineers.”

Bagnaia starts this weekend’s Misano round 23 points behind fellow GP24 rider Jorge Martin (Pramac) with Marquez 70 points from the top in third on his GP23.