The 2023 MotoGP rider line-up features reigning champion Bagnaia with new teammate Enea Bastianini in the factory Ducati team, while Alex Marquez has joined Gresini Racing after years at Honda.
His older brother Marc remains at Repsol Honda hoping a sub-par 2022 bike can transform into machinery that gives him a chance of winning a seventh MotoGP championship.
Asked by Marca if he would ever sign Marquez, Ducati general manager Dall’Igna said: “In life you can never know or say.
Perhaps Pecco will leave. We know that we have a two-year contract, we know that our relationship has always been wonderful.
“Even in moments of difficulty for each other, we have known how to help each other and find a solution. That’s why I think it would be difficult.
“But, in life you never know. The same with Honda – if they offer [Bagnaia] a figure that for us is unaffordable, what do I do?”
Marc’s brother Alex’s switch to the Ducati clan is in part notable because it provides a link for the six-time premier class champion to the famous Italian brand.
Marc missed six races in 2022 to undergo career-threatening surgery while Honda registered their first MotoGP race in 40 years without scoring a single point.
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Marc roared back with a pole position and a podium finish to lend hope that he will fight at the front in 2023.
“Marc Marquez is always scary,” Dall’Igna said. “How can I say that Marc Marquez is not scary?
“Marquez has shown to be someone who has the determination, the strength, a driving style that should scare you.
“Someone who is not afraid of Marc Marquez is just crazy.
It’s not that I’m saying that Marc doesn’t scare us, but I’m saying that we have a rider who, if he gets rid of [errors]can make a difference like Marquez did.”
Bagnaia, who overcame an all-time record 91-point deficit to pip Fabio Quartararo in the final round of last year for the title, became Ducati’s first champion since 2007 and the first Italian since 2009.
His fate was never guaranteed, Dall’Igna said: “No, it wasn’t so clear. When someone invests in young people, it is never clear because with young people you know that they are good, that they have talent, but then anything can happen. In addition, MotoGP is a very difficult category, very complicated.
“But I have to say that with Pecco we made the right choice. I chose Pecco because he did two years in Moto3 with a bike that was not competitive and won races.
“I like those riders who do not complain, who always try to take home results regardless of whether they have the best or the worst bike. For me, that’s one of the characteristics that champions have to have, which I also saw in Jorge Lorenzo and other riders who, later, left their mark. I always say it, that’s when I knew Pecco could do great things.
“I say that Pecco is someone who can make history, really, because just thinking about how the 2022 championship went: he comes out of two or three mistakes and could have won it well in advance.
“That’s why I say that Pecco is not far away, fine-tuning any little thing here and there to become, truly … He is already a multi-winner, because he already wins races in a row, but if he gets rid of some small imperfections he can make a difference in an incredible way.”