After a number of months away, the previous Francesco Bagnaia turned up on the Japanese Grand Prix. Following a few of the most depressing races of his profession, Ducati’s two-time MotoGP champion out of the blue discovered his kind, producing a dominant weekend at Motegi.
Whereas it’s at all times harmful to declare a rider is ‘back’ on the energy of 1 outing, there are sturdy indications that Ducati has managed to provide Bagnaia the mysterious ‘feeling’ he has been lacking all through most of 2025. If that’s the case, that is the comfortable ending to MotoGP’s largest technical story of the yr.
Bagnaia’s travails aboard the identical GP25 team-mate Marc Marquez was utilizing to crush all opposition have been among the many chart-topping speaking factors, posing a head-scratcher for staff, media and followers alike. The bike was evidently a race-winner, however there was some connection lacking between the machine and Bagnaia. Engineers love a problem, however this one pushed everybody’s persistence.
The essence of the duty was turning Bagnaia’s ongoing complaints a couple of ‘missing feeling’ into engineering phrases, then developing with a technical answer that will consequence within the rider rediscovering a sensation that will give him his previous confidence. Ducati needed to discover a connection between an intensely solitary human expertise and the scientific hard-numbers world of elements and settings.
After months of burning the midnight oil, a breakthrough was made on the Misano take a look at forward of the Japanese GP. But when it weren’t for its title sponsor Lenovo, the Ducati manufacturing unit staff – and Bagnaia – may nonetheless be ready.
Learn Additionally:
Lenovo could have lent its title to the staff since 2021, however not everyone seems to be conscious that that is way over a branding association. Lenovo was already Ducati’s official know-how companion three years earlier than changing into title sponsor. Since 2018, then, its premium {hardware}, excessive efficiency computing and superior AI-ready options have been a key a part of Ducati’s ongoing efficiency.
“This is more than a partnership,” mentioned Ducati Corse sporting director Mauro Grassilli, who featured prominently within the celebrations on Ducati’s good Sunday at Motegi.
Mauro Grassilli, Ducati Corse sporting director
Picture by: Ducati Corse
“We started in the beginning together and then we have grown together. And honestly speaking, I don’t see the future without Lenovo as a partner from a sporting point of view; from a technology point of view. So we really are part of the same project.”
Lenovo’s international sponsorships and activation director Lara Rodini stresses the identical level.
“We are really part of the Ducati operations,” she mentioned. “It’s not just positioning. Our logo and the key assets of the Ducati MotoGP [project] are like one single DNA working together to achieve the major goals that we have.”
Arguably, Ducati and Lenovo achieved their two largest targets at Motegi final weekend: sealing Marquez’s world championship and getting Bagnaia successful once more. Whereas Marc’s title celebrations rightly stole the present, these concerned in fixing Bagnaia’s points will probably be feeling simply as happy with a staff effort that lastly acquired man and machine speaking.
“The big problem that we usually have is to translate the emotions that the rider has to the technology, to the data,” defined Grassilli. “At first of our historical past in MotoGP it was very troublesome to have this type of relationship between riders and engineers, particularly after the race or after observe.
“Lenovo and know-how basically, from the start, helped us to have this type of reply. It’s not simple to seek out the appropriate reply each time, however we attempt our greatest and Lenovo, in fact, helps us 100%.
“Sometimes when the human doesn’t help us to give a right answer, the technology helps us to give this answer.”
