"It's bulky": Ducati immediately in chaos, Bagnaia's broadsides against Marc Marquez

There are not two but four roosters in the henhouse of Italian motorsport that is preparing to turn on the engines these days, from Bahrain to Thailand. We are still talking about the Reds and both Ducati and Ferrari have similar aspirations in terms of the world championship. Formula 1 has been waiting for 18 years for Maranello to return to its rightful role and Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc form the best pairing in the world championship; MotoGP, on the other hand, expects Ducati to extract from the names of Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez that of Martin's successor, the 2024 world champion. So there are four roosters, not two, and being in the same henhouse, they risk pecking each other: the family fight between riders of the same team, in fact, has not always brought good luck, history tells us.

The risk is there if we think back to the fratricidal duels of the past in Formula 1, for example those between Gilles Villeneuve and Pironi, Senna and Prost, Rosberg and Hamilton himself. Lewis, yes. Starting tomorrow (live from 8 on Sky) the great Londoner will be on the track in Sakhir where the teams begin a three-day indicative test to understand if, during the winter, the technicians have done a good job. For example, if the SF-25 will be competitive to compete not only with the Red Bull of the four-time world champion Max Verstappen (yesterday we saw the new RB21, the second single-seater not built by Adrian Newey), but also with McLaren which holds the constructors' title and Mercedes which will debut our dear eighteen-year-old assault driver Kimi Antonelli.

After the fake tests in Maranello, from today Ferrari will seek the truth about the SF-24: Hamilton will drive in the morning, Leclerc in the afternoon. Each team will be able to drive for 24 hours and use 30 tires. The first day will be used to gain confidence, then it will get serious. Lewis and Charles, for now, get along well: "Leclerc is professional, fast and well-liked in the garage. More mature than I was at 27," said Sir Lewis who however added: "Beating him will not be easy." In one Ferrari the 40 years, 7 world championships and 105 grand prix won by the Londoner will rise; in the other the 27 years, 8 GPs and regrets of the Monegasque who would finally like to dispel the stamp of the Predestined. From four to two wheels, from two cocks in the henhouse to four: just as Hamilton and Leclerc represent the best driver duo in Formula 1, so Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez make up the official Ducati Dream Team that will try to start the season in the best possible way next weekend in Thailand.

They will face off against a calm, professional and correct rider with two world championships under his belt (the 28-year-old Pecco) and the eight-time Spanish world champion who, in his time, drove someone like Valentino Rossi crazy (that is, the 32-year-old Cabroncito). Until yesterday, smiles, hugs and words of esteem between the two. Then Bagnaia let slip: «I would have preferred to continue with Bastianini as a teammate; however, things went like this. Marquez's presence will be much more cumbersome». So how long will the idyll of the two couples in red last? This is the unknown that weighs like a millstone. The important thing is that a Red wins, be it Ferrari or Ducati, but in motorsport the most dangerous rival is always your teammate.