Early career Bagnaia was born in
Turin, Italy, and rode
Minimoto bikes from a young age, winning the European MiniGP championship in 2009. He made his pre-GP 125 Mediterranean championship debut with Monlau Competición team in 2010 and finished the season as runner-up. In 2011, he took part in the Spanish Championships in the 125cc category, winning a race, and finishing third in the final standings. In the
2012 CEV Moto3 season, he rode a Honda NSF250R and once again finished third in the championship behind
Álex Márquez and
Luca Amato, with a race win and two second places in seven races. Bagnaia joined the VR46 Riders Academy, and remains a member.
Moto3 World Championship Bagnaia made his Grand Prix debut in the
2013 Moto3 World Championship, with Team Italia FMI riding a Honda alongside his teammate
Romano Fenati. The season was a disappointing year for Bagnaia as he did not manage to get a single point in the 17 races he participated in. His best race was a 16th-place finish at
Sepang. In
2014, Bagnaia switched teams to join the newly formed
Sky Racing Team by VR46, riding a
KTM with
Romano Fenati again. After failing to score points in his rookie season, Bagnaia made clear improvements, finishing in the top-ten five times during the first seven races, with a fourth-place finish at
Le Mans as his best result, where he also set the fastest lap of the race. Bagnaia missed the races at
Assen and
Sachsenring due to injury. After scoring 42 points in the first seven races of the campaign Bagnaia slumped badly during the second part of the season, only finishing in the points twice of the last nine races, clearly affected by his injury. He finished the
season in 16th position with 50 points. In
2015, Bagnaia made another team and bike change, this time joining
Aspar Team on a Mahindra, with new teammates being
Juanfran Guevara and
Jorge Martín. In the fifth race of the season in France, Bagnaia got his first podium at
Le Mans, finishing the race in 3rd place behind
Romano Fenati and
Enea Bastianini. In the next race at Mugello, Bagnaia finished fourth, missing the podium by 0.003 seconds. He was on his way to another podium finish at
Silverstone but crashed with two laps remaining, fighting with
Niccolò Antonelli for the third place. Despite improving his championship position by two places, and gaining 26 more points than the previous year on a new bike for the third straight season, this time a
Mahindra, it was still an up and down year for him. Bagnaia only finished in the top ten during five races. He also missed points in seven races, unclassified in five of those. He finished the year 14th place in the championship standings, with 76 points. In
2016, Bagnaia started the season with a podium finish at
Losail and another podium finish at
Jerez, finishing third on both occasions. At his home race in
Italy, Bagnaia again secured third position, beating
Niccolò Antonelli by 0.006 seconds. Followed by a crash at
Barcelona, Bagnaia secured his first Grand Prix win at the historic
Assen circuit, in what was his 59th Moto3 race, and the first win for
Mahindra, too. He finished the season with 145 points to place fourth in the Moto3 Championship with a total of two wins and six podiums. Bagnaia would have had an opportunity to finish second in the World Championship behind
Brad Binder, but was taken out in both
Phillip Island and
Valencia by
Gabriel Rodrigo. Rodrigo pushed out
Fabio Di Giannantonio in Australia who went down and collected Bagnaia with him in that crash. In Valencia, Rodrigo made a highside crash on the first lap approaching the last corner which Bagnaia was unable to avoid.
Moto2 World Championship After four seasons in the Moto3 category, Bagnaia moved up to Moto2 racing for
Sky Racing Team VR46, where he last rode in
2014. For the
2017 Moto2 World Championship, he would have
Stefano Manzi as his teammate. In just his fourth ever Moto2 race at
Jerez, Bagnaia finished second. He finished second in the next race as well at
Le Mans after having qualified in second place, missing pole position to
Thomas Lüthi by just 0.026 seconds. Bagnaia took a third podium at
Sachsenring, finishing 3rd behind
Franco Morbidelli and
Miguel Oliveira. At
Misano Bagnaia originally finished the race fourth behind
Dominique Aegerter,
Thomas Lüthi and
Hafizh Syahrin; however, Aegerter was later disqualified, promoting him to third of his fourth podium of the season. He was crowned Moto2 Rookie of the year after the Japanese Grand Prix at
Motegi, and finished his rookie season with 174 points to place fifth in the championship standings, scoring points in 16 of the 18 races. Bagnaia opened the season with a win in
Qatar, having led the race from start to finish. Bagnaia took a second win in
Austin after a hard fight with
Álex Márquez winning the race with a gap of 2.4 seconds and also setting the fastest lap of the race. At
Jerez, Bagnaia finished third behind
Lorenzo Baldassarri and
Miguel Oliveira holding his starting grid position. Bagnaia took his first pole position in Moto2 at
Le Mans, and like the race in
Qatar he led from start to finish. The win was also his third podium at
Le Mans since 2015. Bagnaia took a fourth win at
Assen, starting the race from pole position and leading the entire race. After qualifying third on the grid in
Sachsenring, Bagnaia finished the race down in 12th place, having been forced outside of the track after
Mattia Pasini, who fell down in front of him in the last corner on the second lap, and despite being down in 26th, he made up fourteen places in two laps, including overtaking
Álex Márquez the final corner of the last lap. At
Brno Bagnaia finished third and lost the championship lead to Oliveira, but quickly retook the championship lead at
Austria, winning his fifth race of the season. Bagnaia won his sixth race of the season at
Misano from pole position. He took a fifth straight podium at
Buriram, winning the race with his teammate
Luca Marini in second place. He took his eighth win of the season at
Motegi after
Fabio Quartararo, who initially won the race, was disqualified due to low tyre pressure. After finishing third at
Sepang he was crowned Moto2 World Champion with his 12th podium of the season, his teammate
Luca Marini taking his first ever Moto2 win as well, his fifth podium of the campaign. Bagnaia finished every single Moto2 race he participated in, 36 in total. He scored points in 34 of them and was on a 30-race point scoring streak, starting from
Barcelona in 2017. The streak ended when he retired from his first MotoGP race at
Losail.
MotoGP World Championship Aspar Team Ducati testing (2016) On November 15, 2016, he rode the
Ducati Desmosedici GP with
Aspar Team for the first time during a test at the
Circuit Ricardo Tormo, Valencia that year. He followed
Álvaro Bautista and
Karel Abraham, the factory Ducati duo, on the bike in 2017.
Pramac Racing (2019–2020) 2019 After two seasons in the Moto2 category, Bagnaia was promoted up to take part in the
2019 MotoGP World Championship with
Pramac Ducati. He was previously offered a ride in MotoGP in
2018 by Pramac after his stellar rookie season in
2017, where he took four podiums and finished fifth in the championship behind
Franco Morbidelli,
Thomas Lüthi,
Miguel Oliveira, and
Álex Márquez, but Bagnaia decided to stay, with an opportunity to take the championship title. He replaced fellow Italian rider
Danilo Petrucci, who went to the
Factory Ducati Team, replacing three-time MotoGP World Champion
Jorge Lorenzo, who took the seat vacated at
Repsol Honda Team by
Dani Pedrosa after he decided to retire after 13 seasons in MotoGP, becoming an official test rider for
KTM. After failing to score points in
Qatar, where he retired from the race due to a damaged front wing, Bagnaia took his first two points in the
MotoGP World Championship with a 14th place in
Argentina, having started the race from 17th on the grid. Bagnaia finished ninth in
Austin getting positions after
Marc Márquez and
Cal Crutchlow crashed out from the race in separate accidents, and both
Maverick Vinales and
Joan Mir were penalised with ride through penalties for jumping the start. Prior to the fourth race at
Jerez, Bagnaia had three straight podium finishes, starting from the
2016 Moto3 season. He qualified tenth on the grid but crashed out on the sixth lap, fighting with
Pol Espargaro. At
Le Mans where Bagnaia won the Moto2 race in 2018, he crashed out on the sixth lap after an incident with
Maverick Vinales. In the next race at
Mugello, his home Grand Prix, Bagnaia had a solid start to the weekend. He topped the second Free Practice time sheets on his way to qualify eighth on the grid. However, he crashed in the last corner on the 11th lap while in seventh place. It was the first time in Bagnaia's career that he had failed to finish three races in a row, all of them with crashes. In
Austria, Bagnaia had his best race weekend since his time in
Moto2, both in terms of his qualifying, advancing to Q2 and starting from fifth on the grid, and race pace, managing to cross the line in 7th place. At
Phillip Island, Bagnaia finished the race in fourth place, his best result of the season, missing the podium by just 0.055 seconds to his Ducati teammate
Jack Miller. Bagnaia finished his rookie season in the premier class with 54 points, placing him 15th in the championship standings. He missed the final race at
Valencia due to injury.
2020 For
2020, Bagnaia received a GP20 bike, the same as his teammate,
Jack Miller. However, in a season that was majorly affected with races constantly being postponed or cancelled due to the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic, the first race in MotoGP wasn't held until 19 July at
Jerez, with the first scheduled race at
Losail being cancelled for the premier class. Despite this, Bagnaia had a strong first weekend, qualifying 4th on the grid and ultimately finishing the race in seventh position. In the next race, held at
Jerez, Bagnaia was even stronger than the previous race, qualifying on the front row of the grid in third place. Unfortunately on lap 19, with six laps remaining, him well settled in to his second place and on his way to a maiden podium, he had to retire with engine failure. Next race weekend at
Brno, Bagnaia crashed during FP1, breaking his leg, and he therefore missed the remainder of the weekend, and the two next races, being replaced by
Michele Pirro. He returned for his home race at
Misano, where he took his first podium of his MotoGP career, with a second-place finish behind
Franco Morbidelli, fellow VR46 Academy member. He fell into a bit of a slump after his first podium however, only scoring eight points in the last six races, eventually finishing the season down in 16th place, with 47 points to his name.
Ducati Lenovo Team (2021–present) 2021 For
2021, Bagnaia moved up to the factory Ducati team, along with former teammate Jack Miller. He started the season well, qualifying for pole position ahead of teammate Miller and the factory Yamaha riders
Fabio Quartararo and
Maverick Vinales, at the season opener in
Losail. This marked his first career MotoGP pole position, and he would later finish the race in third. In the second race in Qatar, Bagnaia finished in sixth place. At
Portimao, Bagnaia initially took pole position during Qualifying; however, his lap time was disallowed due to
Miguel Oliveira's crash and yellow flag, which meant Bagnaia started the race from 11th. During the race, Bagnaia worked his way up to finish in second place behind
Fabio Quartararo after
Jack Miller,
Alex Rins and
Johann Zarco all crashed out. He finished second the following race weekend in Jerez too, making it three podiums from four races. The middle of the season saw him score regular points, before he had another second place in Austria. Bagnaia took his maiden premier class win at
Aragon, where he set the all time track record in qualifying, and led the entire race starting from pole, successfully defending seven overtakes by
Marc Márquez during the final stages of the race. Bagnaia managed to repeat this achievement the following weekend in
Rimini; he broke the lap record to take pole and led the entire race to take his second career victory in MotoGP. Bagnaia secured his third consecutive pole position in
Austin, and finished the race in third, cutting the championship lead of
Fabio Quartararo to 52 points, with three races remaining. In
Misano, Bagnaia would continue his hot streak, getting pole position, setting the fastest lap of the race, before he crashed out of the lead with five laps to go, securing the title for
Fabio Quartararo. This would not deter Bagnaia however, securing a fifth consecutive pole position in
Portimao, something which has only been done in the premier class after the 1000cc rule change by
Marc Márquez in
2014 and
Fabio Quartararo earlier this season. He won the race in Portimao, as well as the season closer in
Valencia, finishing second in the championship, with 252 points, 26 points behind World Champion Fabio Quartararo.
2022 Going into the
2022 season, Bagnaia with a strong finish from the previous year, was picked as a Championship favourite for his second year with
Ducati. Bagnaia crashed out of eighth place taking the polesitter and fellow Ducati rider,
Jorge Martín out at the opening race at
Losail in Qatar. At the second round of the season, at a wet
Mandalika circuit, Bagnaia took home a disappointing 15th place, collecting only one point in the opening two races of the season. Two fifth places at
COTA and the
Argentinian Grand Prix and an eighth place in
Portimao were followed up until
Jerez, a track where Bagnaia has had success earlier in his career. He dominated the weekend, taking a record-breaking pole position and then leading from start to finish, picking up the second
grand slam of his career. At
Le Mans, Bagnaia once again dominated initially, leading the majority of the race; however, he was eventually caught up by
Enea Bastianini who won the race, and Bagnaia crashed out of with seven laps to go. The next race at
Mugello Bagnaia had more of a mediocre start, qualifying in fifth spot he eventually caught up to and passed
Marco Bezzecchi to the lead the remainder of the race for his second win of the season. In
Catalunya, Bagnaia was running third and was one of the favourites to take the victory but was taken out alongside
Alex Rins by
Takaaki Nakagami heading into the first corner, the race was won by
Fabio Quartararo. Looking to bounce back at
Sachsenring, Bagnaia however slid out from second place on lap 3. He was now at a 91-point deficit to
Quartararo, the championship leader, and stood in sixth place in championship at the exact halfway point of the season. After that race, Bagnaia turned his season around strongly. He went on to win the next four races in
Assen,
Silverstone,
Red Bull Ring and
Misano. He made history as the first
Ducati rider and only the fourth rider in the
MotoGP era to do so. The others being multi world champions
Valentino Rossi,
Marc Marquez and
Jorge Lorenzo. He had gained 61 points on
Fabio Quartararo in four races collecting a maximum of 100 points. At
Aragón, Bagnaia aimed for a fifth win in a row but had to settle for second to
Enea Bastianini with a margin of just 0.042 seconds, being overtaken on the final lap. In a race where Fabio Quartararo crashed-out after riding into the back of
Marc Márquez on the opening lap, Bagnaia once more managed to decrease the gap by 20 points, heading to
Motegi with a ten-point deficit. At the
Japanese Grand Prix, while running in ninth position just behind
Quartararo, Bagnaia crashed out of the race on the final lap, allowing Quartararo, who finished the race in eighth place, to increase his lead in the championship over Bagnaia to 18 points with 4 races to go in the season. In the Thailand Grand Prix at
Buriram and the Australian Grand Prix at
Phillip Island, Bagnaia finished in third place while
Quartararo failed to score on both occasions, leaving Bagnaia 14 points ahead of him with two races to go. At the
Malaysian Grand Prix, Bagnaia could win the championship if he outscored
Quartararo by 11 points. He picked up the seventh victory of his season after a poor qualifying session but
Quartararo finishing third meant that the title would go down to the final round. At the
Valencian Grand Prix, Bagnaia would then go on to win his maiden premier class championship and made history as he completed the largest points overhaul (−91) for a Championship winner in premier class history.
2023 Bagnaia continued with
Ducati for
2023 and 2024 alongside a new teammate,
Enea Bastianini who replaces
Jack Miller. For most of the season, Bagnaia was locked in a championship battle with
Jorge Martín. Both riders exchanged sprint and race wins, though Bagnaia always held the lead of the championship except after the sprint race in
Indonesia. Bagnaia won the championship after Martín's crash at the final race of the season in
Valencia, finishing 39 points ahead. Thus, Bagnaia became a two-time premier class MotoGP World Champion, the first Ducati rider to successfully defend a riders' championship, and the only rider in the
Motogp era to win back to back titles after
Valentino Rossi and
Marc Marquez.
2024 Ahead of the
2024 season, Bagnaia extended his contract to remain with
Ducati until the end of 2026. By the end of
2024 Austrian Grand Prix, he won his 25th Premier class victory. He also matched last year's win total of 7 feature races. In the
2024 Aragon Grand Prix, after a collision with
Álex Márquez, he found himself trailing 23 points behind
Jorge Martín. He won his eighth feature race in
2024 Japanese Grand Prix to break his personal record to trim the deficit to Jorge Martín to ten points. After
Australia and
Thailand, Bagnaia was 17 points behind Martín. His crash in the sprint race at the penultimate round in
Malaysia cost him further points as he was 29 points adrift of Martin. Pecco won the feature race in Malaysia, while Martin finished second. With a gap of 24 points, the winner was to be determined at the final round at
Barcelona. Despite taking a hat-trick; pole position, sprint win, main race victory, Bagnaia finished as the championship runner-up in 2024, ten points behind Martín. His feature race win tally of 11 in the 2024 MotoGP season remains the most by any rider in the premier class in a single season not to win the title.
2025 On 5 June 2024, Bagnaia's teammate for
2025 and 2026 was confirmed to be eight-time World Champion
Marc Márquez, replacing
Enea Bastianini. Bagnaia struggled to match the pace of teammate Márquez, but nevertheless seized advantage at the
Grand Prix of the Americas to win his first race of 2025 after Márquez had crashed. His start to the season also saw strong consistency until the
French Grand Prix, where he crashed in both the sprint and feature race. However, a mid-season slump saw Bagnaia struggle to match the form of teammate Márquez, trailing him by 168 points by the summer break. He saw a brief return to form at the
Japanese round, securing pole position and both sprint and feature race wins. However, Bagnaia faced five consecutive DNFs in the next rounds in
Indonesia,
Australia,
Malaysia,
Portugal, and
Valencia. ==Career statistics==