It’s six years since Marc Marquez won a MotoGP world championship, but now he’s finally on a factory Ducati some in the paddock are tipping him to absolutely run away with the 2025 season.
Will he? Here’s our take.
This won’t be 2014 take two
Simon Patterson
I don’t think that we’re going to see a Marquez domination season like we saw in 2014, when he won the first 10 races of the year. But I still very much believe that we’re going to see him crowned MotoGP champion for the seventh time come the end of the season in November.
His new team-mate, Pecco Bagnaia, is far too talented for Marquez to dominate the season, though.
Sure, I might not expect Bagnaia to end up with title number three at the end of the year, but there’s absolutely no reason to think he wouldn’t be a regular race winner and keep Marquez honest all the way.
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Then there are a few other characters who might well be able to get in the mix as well. The likes of Fabio Di Giannantonio, Pedro Acosta, Fabio Quartararo and even Marquez’s younger brother Alex might not be expected to be title contenders, but that doesn’t mean that they won’t be spoilers here and there.
It won’t be enough, of course, to stop Marquez’s title success - but hopefully a few of them will be close enough to them that we get a repeat of 2017, not 2014!
Dominate is a big word given the strength of the field, but I’d bet pretty much everything on Marquez taking his seventh championship at the end of 2025.
After a steady start, he’ll be unstoppable
Megan White
I think it’ll take him a few races to get warmed up - watch me get proved wrong at the season-opening Thai Grand Prix - but after that, Marquez will be nigh-on unstoppable.
I don’t doubt that Bagnaia will bring the fight, and once Jorge Martin has put some more laps on the Aprilia, expect him to get some race wins under his belt. Others are likely to challenge for victories too, and Marco Bezzecchi will be one to watch after a strong pre-season as he hopes to return to his 2023 form.
Marquez took six grands prix podiums and three wins last year, on a bike a year older than Bagnaia and Martin which he was racing on for the first time. Now he’s had a year to adapt, watch him run away with it.
None of his real rivals have a good enough bike
Josh Suttill
It's not quite as simple an equation as the best rider on the best bike equals domination.
Marc Marquez is probably still the class of the field. The Ducati ‘GP24.9’ is probably still the best bike - so much so that Ducati is struggling to better it.
But the gap between Marquez and the next best riders is nowhere near the gulf of the mid to late 2010s.
The problem is the other best riders aren't on Ducatis.
Martin's on an improved Aprilia but there's no way that's a championship contender. Quartararo's Yamaha also seems to be improving. But again there's no way the M1 is a 2025 championship contender.
I fear any hopes of Acosta - yes I'm putting him in this group already - having title-challenging machinery has been wiped out by KTM's turbulent winter.
So that leaves Bagnaia as the only elite rider with the machinery that's even capable of stopping Marquez and I just don't see him doing that.
Bagnaia gave everything to come out second-best against a satellite bike last year so how can you expect that to change now that his main rival is even quicker and more accomplished and in the same team?
Ducati dropping its 2025 bike changes the picture
Oliver Card
If the GP25 was taking the same step forward in terms of performance as the GP24 was from the GP23, there would be a more looming sense of dominance from the factory team, and a high chance that Marquez and Bagnaia really could split the lion’s share of wins in 2025.
However, the 2024 bike has proved itself to be 'too good' and demonstrably achieved a generation-defining highpoint in motorcycle engineering and performance.
Going into the new season that all-conquering machine will be in the hands of more riders and whilst the factory will have a more developed edge, there will be an increase from four to six riders who will have access to what is effectively the top spec Ducati.
Having the best machine doesn’t make you the best racer, MotoGP still benefits from rider talent being able to exceed a bike’s capabilities (see Marc Marquez in 2024), but it throws in a higher probability of disruption from more riders who have the potential to catch both Pecco and Marc who, for all of their world championship titles, have not proven themselves to be infallible in wheel-to-wheel race situations.
Marc clearly loved his 2024 renaissance and is on a solid trajectory to maximise his 2025 campaign, but I still think deep down we are yet to see Pecco’s true 2025 pace. We are yet to experience 'Bag the Builder’, who never rushes into the top spot on a race weekend but takes his time to lay his foundation before demonstrating his peak and often eye-watering pace.
Marquez will no doubt be focused and exceptional, but Bagnaia has so much more familiarity with the 2024 spec machinery and if he can use his experience to gain a head start then I don’t see it being a total walkover from one camp or the other.
