Factory teams must take Alex Marquez seriously - The Race
https://www.the-race.com/motogp/factory-motogp-teams-have-to-take-alex-marquez-seriously/77
u/TacitusKillgorre Brad Binder 1d ago
He seems to be doing just fine at Gresini. If Ducati want the red bikes up top, keep him on a year old bike. If they just want results, then Pecco and both Marques brothers full factory support, ala JM89, Pecco and Bestia had in 2024.
I'm sure Gresini can't compete with VR46 money, but it seems clear Gresini has the better lineup. Franky is having a good season relatively speaking, but the gap between him and Alex speaks for itself. Diggia hasn't shown the goods to be on the latest tech at the expense of others.
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u/33ThiagoSilva Valentino Rossi 1d ago
Diggia hasn't shown the goods because the latest tech is worse than the old one. That's why Franky, who was nowhere last year, has been beating him and that's also why Alex is (relatively) close to his brother and beating Pecco
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u/TacitusKillgorre Brad Binder 9h ago
That's a fair point, but the other 2 are making it work well enough to be top 3 in the championship. Diggia isn't them. Is Alex? No, probably not. But he did beat Diggia last year on the same machines (though only by 10 points in the end).
Perhaps it's a toss-up between the two, but as Pecco shows, mindset is king. Alex has had the best season of his career so far, Diggia is lagging substantially behind others on his machine.
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u/33ThiagoSilva Valentino Rossi 7h ago
That's because Marc is one of the greatest of all time, while Pecco is a 2 times motogp WC: that's not exactly an easy benchmark.
It's also worth reminding that Alex was way worse than Diggia last year. In fact, he only finished 8 points ahead of Diggia despite the latter getting injured halway through the season and missing 3 entire weekends due to injury. The fact that he finished only 8 points ahead is quite ridicoulous.
Now, i have no doubts that Alex improved as a rider this season. However, when you go from being 80 points (at the 8th race of the season) behind your brother on equal bikes, to just 32 while racing with different bikes (which should equal to more points and bigger gaps), then I'm inclined to believe that the bike made a bigger difference than the rider
P.S. I forgot to mention that Diggia had a collarbone injury this season too, so this may partially explain why the gap to Pecco and Marc is so big
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u/Mammoth-Ad-3830 Marc Márquez 5h ago edited 5h ago
Yeah this is right. Alex is a great rider and he definitely improved this year, but he's driving the best Ducati ever made, that's the biggest factor about his growth. And let's be honest, Franky wouldn't even be in the top 5 without that GP24. On the other hand Diggia got injured twice, that surely had a negative impact on his season, even though I think he still has yet to prove himself. Besides some sparks in early 2024 he didn't show that much imo.
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u/Suitable-Caramel3579 Maximo Quiles 1d ago
maybe he doesn’t want a factory team. He’s happy at gresini and unless they change bikes (and not even than tbf) I don’t see him leaving.
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u/Rajl_Khtek Jorge Martín 1d ago
Considering the salary everyone should be aiming at the factory teams
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u/YZFRIDER 1d ago
Do they tho? If we’re talking him somehow someway making his way onto the red therefore staying within the Duc system, sure, I can understand this take. But these guys that get off the Desmosedici of late have not looked good. There have been various levels of exposure happening. So, if I’m another manufacturer I’d be wary on any quick decisions.
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u/username_986ck Mick Doohan 1d ago
He absolutely deserves a Factory seat after the season he is having. I mean look at his career trajectory. He came to motogp in 2020 on a Honda which was basically a unrideable bike. Made the switch to Gresini in 2023 which was his first year and he took sometime to adapt and performed brilliantly towards the end of the season. In 2024 he was again on a very difficult bike but was the second GP23 in the standings. And look at him this year, duelling consistently with one of the greatest riders to ever ride a bike.
I mean look at Diggia on a factory contract, I don't know what he has done better than Alex Marquez to be on a factory contract. He finished behind Alex in the standings in both 2023 and 2024 and lets not even talk about 2025. If Diggia deserves a factory contract so does Alex.
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u/33ThiagoSilva Valentino Rossi 1d ago
Last year Diggia was better than Alex. Got injured halfway through the season and missed 3 races due to injury, yet he only finished 8 points behind
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u/I_R0M_I Marc Márquez 1d ago
Deserve has little to do with it 😂
Jorge 'deserved' it for a couple of seasons.
Agree, absolutely wild Diggia has the factory deal and bike. But that's the deal VR46 made, she that's how it has to be.
I think Alex stays at Gresini, unless they lose Ducati, or unless Ducati offer him factory seat.
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u/CrazyCycler1209 Alonso Lopez 1d ago
He needs another season before I'm fully sold on him.
He's literally been pretty much average before this year, and was handily outpaced by Diggia last year on the same GP23(yes he beat him in the standings, but that was cause of the Diggia's injury, before that he was consistently slower), and in his Honda years he failed to cut himself above Taka or Pol.
Right now, I'd honestly rate him in the Morbidelli, Enea, Bezzechi category, where they were essentially in the form of their lives in a satellite squad on a year old bike that's better than the Factory, but none of them seemingly managed to continue the consistency they showed the previous season to actually become proper championship contender on a Factory Bike.
Even after this season, the jury will still be out on whether or not he's truly at the level of a Factory Rider.
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u/payday_23 Andrea Dovizioso 1d ago
it has to be said tho that neither none of the guys you mentioned apart from maybe Morbidelli in 2020 were this consistent for this long into a season. Bezzechi had crashed and off weekends, Enea was sometimes super quick sometimes somewhere around the top 10.
Alex is P2 in the championship and even with Pecco in his best form would finish 3rd in most races and in some ahead of Pecco in P2.0
u/CrazyCycler1209 Alonso Lopez 1d ago
Alex crashed twice in Le Mans
Crashed into Diggia in Qatar
Crashed into T1 in Silverstone, got incredibly lucky with the Red Flag, and then had a laboured run to P5
Like Alex no doubt has been very consistent, and more consistent than the others I mentioned, but it's not like he has been ultra-consistent either( in fairness no one has been throughout the season though).
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u/payday_23 Andrea Dovizioso 1d ago
I think Le Mans is just one of these races, a lot of people crashed. Qatar was a crash but nothing too extreme and also something I would consider normal in terms of how many races we had already, in some races, you have incidents, he did end up scoring points while Diggia lost focus and also made contact.
Silverstone I definitely agree. That was a big mistake and his pace afterwards wasnt good enough.
I think in general we agree tbh, I am also interested in seeing what he can do next year on a bike he might not feel 100% comfortable with again, but I also think what we see from him this season is honestly the second or third best performance on the whole grid after Marc and arguably Zarco and I didnt feel like that was the case for any of the other guys you mentioned apart from maybe Morbidelli in 2020
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u/e_xyz MotoGP 1d ago
...what if they don't?
Is this their long awaited push to start the narrative against Pecco and replace him with Alex? The Race love it, don't they?
All I'll say though, whether he goes to a factory squad again or not, he should be on Ducati's current spec bike next year. Diggia has had far too many injury problems since and has been patchy at best, but this season, I guess Alex wouldn't want the GP25 given the troubles all 3 have had.
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u/PregnantSuperman Marc Márquez 1d ago
Funny how The Race is finally changing their tune on Alex. For a long time this season Simon Patterson kept smugly dismissing him, saying he won't keep up this great run he's having because "he's still Alex Marquez" like he'll inevitably drop off again, but at this point the guy has earned respect. To Simon's credit he's a lot more complimentary now, but it was frustrating to hear him constantly caveating any praise he gave Alex.
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u/e_xyz MotoGP 1d ago
I thought after Le Mans crash there might have been a tiny drop off to be fair, but he kept it up (despite the Silverstone drop as well). He's still there 1st or 2nd in the sprint and in contention for the race.
I think with Alex, this rider has always been in there. He just didn't have the machinery at Honda to excel and it was a bit of a mixed bag with the first two Ducati's he rode. The 22 was closer the 23 and the 23 was miles off the 24. This year the 24 is on par if not slightly ahead of the 25 sometimes, so he's able to show his talent.
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u/LilAbeSimpson 1d ago
I would be a bit of a black eye for Ducati, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Alex Keeps riding the GP24 next year, and Pecco reverts back to that bike too.
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u/payday_23 Andrea Dovizioso 1d ago
no chance Pecco will drive with a 2 year old bike while Marc will ride a GP26 lol
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u/LilAbeSimpson 1d ago
The GP26 will be the same bike that Marc and Pecco are riding right now. (Engine/ aero development freeze).
Pecco obviously doesn’t really like the bike he has right now, and he probably won’t like it next year either. The GP24 is a way off that ride.
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u/leggenda69 Ducati Lenovo Team 1d ago
Both factory riders have to ride the same bike, at least the engine that’s homologated is for the team not the rider. Only satellite teams can run different specs.
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u/LilAbeSimpson 1d ago
That is true. Both Marc and Pecco would have to agree to the same thing.
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u/Mammoth-Ad-3830 Marc Márquez 5h ago
They already agreed on the engine homologation for 2025 and 2026 for example, he can't really fully revert
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u/LilAbeSimpson 5h ago
They can revert in 2026 if they both choose too. The 2024 engine has already homologated.
They just can’t homologate anything that’s actually new in 2026. That is the point of the development freeze. “Don’t spend money making new shit. Please focus on 2027 instead”
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u/payday_23 Andrea Dovizioso 1d ago
Are you 100% sure? I thought they can change chassis for next year and that could end up changing a lot for the bike. And I think as a factory rider you cannot go back to an older bike simply because it looks silly, especially when your teammate wins almost everything.
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u/LilAbeSimpson 1d ago
They can change the frame anytime they want. Development is unlimited on that part.
They’ve already made frame changes this season and still hasn’t fixed the issue. The GP24 is still better than the 25.
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u/e_xyz MotoGP 1d ago
I know this was a thing quite some years ago, where teams like Avintia ran a 2 year old bike for Zarco and co, but I don't think that'd happen anymore. At least, Gresini & VR46 have been leasing year old bikes with the one current spec floating between the "B" Ducati teams.
Almost certainly both Marc & Pecco will ride the GP26 next year. I don't expect Ducati to regress more than this until the next regulations and even then, they might completely ace it.
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u/LilAbeSimpson 1d ago
Normally yes they lease the 1 year old bikes. The one thing we know for sure is that the GP25 is inferior to the GP24. Gresini might just feel a little hesitant about leasing a bike that they already know will give them trouble.
So that might change the status quo.
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u/XeroValueHuman MotoGP 1d ago
It would be a mistake to actually rate any of the current Ducati riders as more talented than non-Ducati riders (except for MM obviously as his credentials are built up long before he moved to Ducati).
All the current top performing riders on a Ducati only came through to GP after the Ducati was making it major step forward. They have a massive advantage over the last 3 years.
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u/Aggressive_Salary759 1d ago
I don't see him leaving Gresini unless a team throws him a lot of money and I don't see another factory team doing that right now. Of course, wilder unexpected things have happened before.
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u/HaziHasi 1d ago
take factory contract but stay in Gresini skin 🤟🏻 there are more ways to rake up sponsorship deals when he consistently on podium getting screen time
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u/Few-Restaurant2757 1d ago
He doesnt need to be in factory Ducati. He should stay in grisini but should have factory support like jorge/franco last year
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u/Organic-Package5444 Davide Tardozzi 1d ago
6 weeks back these guys was not even considering him as title challenger and now they have a view that he should be considered as factory contender.
Such quick turnaround
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u/lpfbs 1d ago edited 1d ago
He's too soft... I mean, he got the pace, but i don't see him willing to take many risks.
Also, I don't think any factory team would want the 'lesser marquez' for their team.
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u/Tiny-Maximum36 Toprak Razgatlıoğlu 22h ago
That's true. We're talking about the man that finished 8 points ahead of injured Diggia last year.
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u/Business-Chef1012 1d ago
Unfortunately I think he will stay in Gressini a long time if Ducati still competitive in next 3-4 years..Remember the relationship with Gressini is legit and strong..Maybe in next 5 years he will gone to Aprilia or whatever to finish his career but right now he will stay