Boredom in MotoGP: The Dominance of Marc Márquez
The exceptional talent Marc Márquez dominates MotoGP with superior material at will. New regulation is intended to distribute chances more evenly in the future.
(Image: Ducati)
- Ingo Gach
Marc Márquez is the best and the worst thing that could have happened to MotoGP. What sounds paradoxical becomes clear upon closer inspection. Márquez secured his seventh MotoGP title in 2025, but before that came a drought of five long years where he was on inferior machinery. In 2025, after his move to the factory Ducati team, the Spaniard dominated the races at will.
His anticipated winning streak, in particular, brought MotoGP a new spectator record at the tracks in 2025. Around 3.6 million people attended the 22 race weekends in total, which was 21 percent more than the previous year. TV viewership increased by nine percent, and there were over 60 million followers on social media channels. This naturally filled the organizer DORNA with joy, but Márquez's overwhelming dominance also has its downsides.
Márquez undoubtedly the best rider
Even the other MotoGP riders would probably not dispute that Marc Márquez is the best rider in the field. He is the exceptional talent who navigates corners a fraction faster, tactically maneuvers more skillfully, adapts more quickly to new machinery, and possesses an unerring instinct. Márquez has popularized elbow-dragging in racing.
Added to this is an incredible reaction time. When riding on the razor's edge – MotoGP bikes produce around 300 PS – Márquez is the one who can still lightning-fast catch a sliding motorcycle, already on the ground, with his knee and elbow, while others would inevitably have crashed.
Five years on inferior machinery
Until 2019, Márquez had won six MotoGP titles on Honda; the partnership was considered a dream team. But in 2020, the unimaginable happened: Honda – twelve-time world champion since the introduction of MotoGP in 2002 – was suddenly no longer competitive. Not even superstar Marc Márquez could change that; he made desperate attempts pushed the Honda RC213V beyond its limits, just to somehow keep up at the front.
Countless crashes and serious injuries were the consequences. After four years, Márquez openly considered retirement. But then his ambition prevailed, and after ten years with Honda HRC, he moved to Gressini Racing, the team where his younger brother Alex already was, to ride the Ducati Desmosedici GP23. In 2024, Marc's full skill was evident; within a few months, he adapted his riding style to the completely new motorcycle for him, achieved three victories, and ultimately finished third in the championship.
The best rider on the best bike
Following this, the factory Ducati team offered him a contract. Thus, in 2025, the best rider was on the best bike. The result was to be expected: Márquez thanked Ducati with absolute dominance. He achieved the feat of becoming world champion points-wise with six races remaining in the season and could even afford to skip the last four races to thoroughly recover from an injury sustained in the fifth-to-last race.
For Márquez, things had gone optimally, but for the spectators, a yawning boredom set in over the course of the season. It was usually not a question of who would win, but who would finish second behind Marc Márquez. For the remaining riders, it was a generous gift from Márquez that he did not participate in the last four races and allowed someone else to win. The second row battled for the consolation prize.
No serious opponents
In contrast to his first six world championship titles between 2013 and 2019, Marc Márquez had no serious opponent in 2025. Back then, he engaged in spectacular duels against top riders like Valentino Rossi, Dani Pedrosa, Andrea Dovizioso, and Jorge Lorenzo; the latter managed to win the title in 2015 ahead of Rossi and Márquez. Márquez had to fight hard for victories back then, which made things exciting for the spectators until the last race.
In 2025, however, Márquez played with the rest of the field; he won eleven races in his 18 starts and was on the podium 15 times. The regular race pattern was: Marc Marquez shot to the lead at the start, led confidently, and won with a significant margin. The tension decreased, and the skirmishes for the lower positions interested very few.
(Image: Ducati)
Competitors in despair
Sometimes his younger brother Alex Márquez on the Gressini-Ducati Desmosedici GP24 could follow him, and in two races, he even managed to beat his older brother. Occasionally, Marc deliberately fell back behind Alex to let him do the leading work, especially when his front tire pressure reached worrying levels. Towards the end, Marc would then move out of the slipstream and simply leave his brother behind.
The only one who could have seriously threatened Marc Márquez would have been his teammate Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia on the second factory Ducati. However, the two-time world champion, for reasons he himself never fully understood, simply couldn't get to grips with the 2025 Desmosedici. Bagnaia often rode significantly slower times than Márquez, and this affected his psyche. He could only win one race early in the season; after that, his results became increasingly worse, and at some point in the second half of the season, he had mentally given up. He crashed out five times in a row at the end and finished only 5th with about half of Marc Márquez's points.
Injuries ended Jorge Martin's hopes
Many had placed their hopes on Jorge Martin. However, the 2024 world champion had been injured again at the beginning of the year during training and later during the season. He only started in seven races and had no opportunity to show what he might have achieved after his brand switch from Ducati to Aprilia. But even uninjured, he certainly wouldn't have won the title in his first year on the Aprilia RS-GP; the transition from the Ducati Desmosedici would have been simply too great.
His teammate Marco Bezecchi had been fast throughout the season and had achieved three victories for Aprilia. In the last two victories, Marc Márquez had already taken his break due to injury. But Bezecchi also never had a chance at the title, even though the Aprilia RS-GP was almost on par with the Ducati in terms of performance at the end of the year.
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New regulations, new luck
We will also experience Marc Márquez's dominance in 2026, and with it, boredom will likely return. Although Márquez will be 33 in February, he is still in top form and, above all, has an immense will to win. Valentino Rossi raced in MotoGP until he was 42, which proves that nowadays, racers can remain highly performant for a very long time with appropriate training and meticulous preparation. There is nothing to suggest that Marc Márquez will not be racing in MotoGP for many more years.
The only glimmer of hope for more excitement: from 2027 onwards, the cards in MotoGP will be reshuffled by a changed technical regulation, including a displacement limit of 850 cm3, the prohibition of the ride-height device, and reduced winglets. This offers Honda and Yamaha the chance to finally construct competitive MotoGP motorcycles again.
In 2027, the young and highly talented Pedro Acosta will no longer be riding for KTM (whose participation in MotoGP is uncertain) but is expected to ride for Honda. Alongside Alex Márquez, Pecco Bagnaia, and Jorge Martin (depending on which bikes they ride in 2027), he is among the few who might pose a threat to Marc Márquez in the future and provide spectators with exciting races again.
(mfz)