Ducati faces a potential team-orders debate as Marc Marquez pursues an eighth MotoGP title, but neither Fabio Di Giannantonio nor Francesco Bagnaia has backed the idea of helping him through enforced race management. The reigning champion arrives at the Malaysian Grand Prix 10 points clear of Jorge Martin.

The situation gives the Sepang round added importance. Martin is set to ride with a broken wrist after crashing from second place in the Phillip Island Sprint. Raul Fernandez, meanwhile, has put the title contest aside for now while concentrating on recovering from two broken fingers suffered in Indonesia.

Individual targets still matter

VR46 Racing Team rider Di Giannantonio says his own championship campaign remains a priority. Fourth is his nearest target, although he has not ruled out a difficult push for third. He expects beating Marco Bezzecchi in the remaining races to be very hard, but intends to extract the strongest possible result from every circuit for both his career and his team.

Bagnaia takes a similar view. The Ducati Lenovo Team rider says he neither received nor requested team orders during his title battles in 2022 and 2023. In his view, riders should be allowed to race for themselves; when a genuine chance to win appears, they should pursue it rather than surrendering the opportunity.

That position comes shortly before a major change in Bagnaia’s career. He is due to move to Aprilia next season, where he will join Bezzecchi as a team-mate. For Ducati, the Sepang question is therefore broader than Marquez’s points advantage: it is also about how much freedom remains for riders whose own championship objectives are still active.