Patience, a major goal for Alex Marquez in 2025 MotoGP season

Yahoo

3 days ago

Alex Marquez says patience will be key as he prepares to defend the second place he currently holds in the MotoGP world championship over the latter half of the season.
The younger Marquez brother heads into this weekend's Austrian GP 120 points behind his runaway sibling Marc. Having dismissed any realistic chance of catching the rampant factory Ducati rider, Alex must turn his attention to warding off Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati, 48 points behind) and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia, 105 points back).
Following a series of podium finishes during a consistent start to his season, Alex's campaign has been set back by two costly incidents in the last three races.
At Assen, he tangled with KTM's Pedro Acosta, resulting in a hand injury that hampered him for the next round in Germany.
Then, at the last race in the Czech Republic, the Gresini Ducati rider was involved in an incident with Honda's Joan Mir, taking them both out. Not only did that cost him points on the day, it also means he will have to serve a long-lap penalty in this Sunday's grand prix.
Both of these tumbles occurred when Alex found himself a little deeper in the pack than he had become accustomed to earlier in the season. He acknowledged on Thursday in Austria that he would have to approach such situations differently from now on.
Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing after his crash
'I will be really honest, there are two things I need to improve on. One is braking and entry. And the second one is how to manage the races when I'm a little bit further back than usual.
'This year, luckily, I've not been used to being sixth, seventh and eighth. And the two mistakes that I made this year, my mistakes at Assen and Brno… I was a little bit [further] back. So in that [sense] I need to control myself a little bit more, accept a little bit more and be more patient.
'When you are there and you know that you have the pace and you have the speed to win… sometimes you are thinking just [about getting to the front] as soon as possible to keep the pace.
'These are the two points that I need to improve if I want to do a better second part of the season compared to the first part.'
Ideally, of course, Marquez will return to his best qualifying and starting form, thus avoiding sharing the track with slower rivals altogether. But even if he manages to do that in Austria, the long-lap penalty means he will likely have to call on his new approach right away – despite his best efforts to mitigate the punishment.
'A bigger challenge for us [will be] to do a perfect weekend to lose the minimum time on the long lap on Sunday. You know, trying to be on the front row; trying to make some [ground before doing] the long lap, all that. So it will be a little bit of strategy.'
Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
A GP26 for Alex in 2026?
Asked about the possibility of Ducati fielding six identical bikes next season, as reported by Motorsport.com, Marquez admitted there had been discussions along those lines.
'As of today, nothing has come our way, but it's clear that if the team has the opportunity to have factory bikes, they'll push for it. And if I can, I'll benefit from it,' he said.
'But right now, things are very quiet. We're working to see if there's any possibility, but for now, it's not a done deal.'
However, he stressed that a factory GP26 was the goal, not a direct Ducati contract.
'I'd like to have a factory bike and have the same tools to compete with everyone, to have the same things, to have things to test in tests and help Ducati. I would like that. Not to have a contract with Ducati. I already have one with Gresini. It's something that doesn't change anything for me.'
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