Alex Marquez is Ducati’s bright spot, but he’s self-critical: "Unacceptable mistake

The 2025 MotoGP vice-champion was the most competitive Ducati rider over the Silverstone weekend: the work done by the Gresini garage will need to be closely analyzed by the other teams.

Aprilia was superior in Great Britain, but if there was one Ducati rider who had a shot at the podium, it was definitely Alex Marquez. And he would have made it if he hadn’t run wide at Turn 1 shortly after passing Marco Bezzecchi, who was struggling physically after surgeries to treat injuries to his right collarbone and right knee. That mistake on lap ten dropped him back to fifth place.

He stayed behind Pedro Acosta for a while, then managed to pass him and went back on the hunt for Bezzecchi. He caught him, but in the final laps he wasn’t able to launch an attack and snatch the third step of the podium from the rider from Rimini. He certainly has some regrets about that avoidable error, but on an Aprilia-branded weekend he was the bright spot for Ducati.

The 2025 MotoGP vice world champion confirms that his potential was to finish on the podium in the long race at Silverstone and admitted his responsibility for missing out: "The changes we made were aimed at second place, at having the chance to take it. But the mistake I made cost us the podium. When you lose a podium because of a stupid mistake, it’s pretty unacceptable on my part. In that moment I simply overshot the braking point a bit."

The younger Marquez highlights what made the difference compared to the Aprilia riders, who were particularly strong this weekend in Great Britain: "What they had over us was the starting position. I think our seventh place on the grid penalized us a lot. We had a great opportunity to stay with Fernandez and to get on the podium. Besides that, especially between Turn 7 and Turn 9 they were much faster than us. And that’s where I was losing out."

According to Alex, Ducati’s situation isn’t as disastrous as some paint it, even if it’s clear Aprilia had something extra at Silverstone: "Compared to the start of the year — he explains — the gap is much smaller and I think we’re getting closer and closer. We’re doing a really fantastic job at Ducati. We’ve improved the bike a lot and, as we understand its strengths, we can unlock all of its potential."

The BK8 Gresini rider was undoubtedly better than the other Ducati riders, especially in managing the rear tire, and he tried to explain how he might have made the difference in England: "The track here is similar to Catalunya. So, in the first corners I can manage the rear tire well, especially because there are many fast corners and there I ride very delicately. The faster the corner, the better I can manage the rear tire. In this race, my riding style paid off really well and it was an advantage." At Ducati they will certainly need to study what Marquez Jr. and his team did to be better prepared in the future.

The original article with the interview in Spanish on Motosan.es