Bagnaia: Ducati's satellite team strategy "key" to MotoGP success

Last weekend’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring marked another milestone for Ducati, as it occupied the top five spots of a race for the first time.

Pramac’s Jorge Martin also ended its grand prix victory drought in Germany dating back to 2008, with the Sachsenring for many years seen as arguably Ducati’s worst on the calendar.

The top five in the grand prix consisted of two Pramac riders, Bagnaia on his factory team bike and the VR46 duo.

Bagnaia leads the championship by 16 points from Martin, with Marco Bezzecchi third and Johann Zarco fourth.

Having narrowly missed out on victory in Germany to Martin, Bagnaia joked that he’ll have to start thinking about team orders before noting that Ducati’s current support strategy for all of its teams is what is making it so dominant right now.

“If he starts to be too close, I will ask for team orders,” Bagnaia joked about Martin.

“We will have a step in front with the engine. No, but to fight against a factory team and fighting against a satellite team is always the same.

“Ducati has this strategy to give the maximum to all the teams, and I think it’s the key of their success.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“[If] you want to improve you have to give everything to all the riders to improve the package, because then you can check the data, you can improve, and every time, every session the top engineers go to the teams, to the riders, to ask what happened, what the feeling is.

“I think it’s a strategy that can be good. It’s the best way to improve, the best way to have a battle and it’s for sure why we are improving a lot.”

Factory orders became a hot topic towards the end of 2022 as Bagnaia fought for the championship with Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, while Gresini Ducati’s Enea Bastianini remained in the equation until the penultimate round.

Stating at the time that he didn’t want any factory orders to play a part in his championship bid, Bagnaia reiterated this in Germany.

“I don’t want team orders, I don’t like team orders,” he added.

“For sure, it depends on the intelligence of each rider. So, Enea last year was able to win races.

“I didn’t want at any times to see Ducati closing the possibility for him to fight for victories and the championship.

“I think this year is the same. I think, and I know, that with my potential I don’t need any help and I want to do everything from my side of the box.

“I know that if everything will work well, we can fight for the title without help.”