The story of MotoGP 2025 so far is very simple: when Marc Marquez doesn’t crash, he wins.
But he does crash. Twice in the last three grands prix. Which is why he’s back to second in the world championship, just one point behind brother and first-time grand prix winner Alex after the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez. And why it’s not quite a certainty that the man probably capable of winning every single race this season will actually take the championship.
Unbelievable scenes 🤯 🤯 @marcmarquez93 tried but could not save this one and crashed 💥#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/eP4fXZADZH
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) April 27, 2025
Marquez was confused about his fall from third place at the Turn 8 left-hander early in today’s Jerez race - unsure whether he was simply too quick into the corner or carrying too much lean angle, or something else altogether.
Team-mate Pecco Bagnaia has theories about the latest-spec Ducati’s front end behaviour and how it could be contributing to his struggles and Marquez’s shunt, but for Marquez it still feels like it could just be part of his factory Ducati learning curve.
“Two times on Sundays,” he noted about his 2025 crashes. “So it’s there where I need to keep improving and try to understand the character of this bike.
“I feel super good but these kind of mistakes - for example today - are the ones that I don’t understand a lot.”
Marquez acknowledged how costly a crash streak could be, answering with a very quick “yes” when it was put to him that it all felt reminiscent of team-mate Bagnaia throwing away the 2024 championship. Bagnaia won 18 races in total but crashed in another seven (four times all by himself) and lost the title to Jorge Martin by 10 points.
“I cannot do this kind of mistake if I want to fight for the championship,” Marquez admitted.
“Even like this, inside the disaster, we are one point behind the leader. But it’s time to keep going and try to understand how to improve for the future.”
Bagnaia’s 2024 wasn’t the only troubling memory on Marquez’s mind at Jerez on Sunday.
Five years ago at the same track, he’d been charging back through the field after an early error when he had his career-interrupting accident that prompted his long title drought.
He admitted that was weighing on him as he recovered from 20th to 12th today, but maybe could’ve got higher still.
“I was coming back and then I said ‘OK, I will not exaggerate’,” said Marquez.
“I saw that I had another group in sight after [Alex] Rins but I thought about 2020 and I said ‘I will not exaggerate, I will not crash again’.”
Marquez’s pace margin in 2025 is such that he almost certainly won’t regret settling for 12th at Jerez.
But right now he’s one point behind in the championship when he could be 54 ahead. And that has to give his brother and his team-mate a little hope.
