MotoGP, the Aprilia case: no more gifts for Marc Marquez

What happened at Balaton Park was completely unexpected for the Noale team, called upon to react and not be consumed by any internal tensions.

It was certainly a shock to witness the crash at Turn 1 after the start of the MotoGP race in Hungary. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt, but it was surreal to see Jorge Martin cause the fall of his teammate and championship leader Marco Bezzecchi, also involving Raul Fernandez, Fermin Aldeguer, and Fabio Di Giannantonio in the multi-rider pile-up.

Martinator completely lost control of his RS-GP26 and triggered an impact that no one expected. Especially at Aprilia, they didn’t expect it, given that the Spaniard and Bez occupy the top two positions in the overall standings, and the bare minimum to try to bring the first MotoGP title to Noale is precisely to avoid taking each other out.

Finding himself with both factory riders fighting for the world title, Massimo Rivola introduced the “Black Rules” that the two were to follow in their duel. Simple rules based on a clear principle: mutual respect. They’re free to fight, but without making mistakes that could compromise the final result for the riders and the team. Nothing new—these are very normal rules applied in any team in such situations. There shouldn’t even be a need to explain them to riders who have been racing in MotoGP for several years now.

Clearly, Martin had absolutely no intention of causing the pile-up that took out him, Bezzecchi, and three other riders. He hadn’t “targeted” his teammate. But the mistake happened and it had consequences in terms of points lost in the standings, penalties (the Spaniard will have to serve two long lap penalties in the next GP), and internal atmosphere.

Rivola is a fairly measured person in his statements, someone who prefers to pour water on the fire when situations are delicate, but at the Balaton Park Circuit he didn’t hold back and pointed the finger at Martin, stating that a world champion shouldn’t make that kind of mistake and that it would have been easy to avoid. For his part, the rider apologized both inside the garage and on social media.

It’s not the first time Martinator has created tensions within Aprilia. All MotoGP fans will remember when in 2025 he surprisingly announced his intention to leave at the end of the year, invoking a clause that was absolutely not applicable in his situation. He had to backtrack, and the Noale team took him back in, putting everything aside and doing their utmost to put him in a position to be competitive.

Hungary wasn’t even the first incident in which Martin hit Bezzecchi. It had already happened in the Sprint at Motegi in 2025: in that case too, the episode occurred at the first corner after the start. The Spaniard fractured his right collarbone and was handed two long lap penalties, which he served upon returning at the Valencia GP.

If in Japan there was probably an excess of aggression, at Balaton Park it was a more technical error: “This is not a hot-headed mistake,” said Rivola. “He got the braking wrong, but he didn’t brake much later than the others. He squeezed the lever harder and had the bike leaned over at a point where there’s less grip, because he was all the way on the inside.”

Great regrets at Aprilia, also looking at the fourth place Ai Ogura salvaged in a comeback. Surely Bezzecchi and Martin, as well as the other riders involved in the crash, had the potential to run an excellent race and collect a good haul of points. Marc Marquez and Ducati were the ones to benefit from the situation.

The nine-time world champion won, completing the sprint–race double and joining the very exclusive club of riders with 100 Grand Prix victories. Only he, Valentino Rossi (115), and record holder Giacomo Agostini (122) have managed it. Moreover, Marquez also reduced his gap to Bezzecchi, the leader of the MotoGP standings: it’s now down to 72 points. The comeback won’t be easy, but with 14 Grands Prix remaining and so many points on offer, anything can happen. Especially when a phenomenon like Marc is in the mix.

Aprilia knows this well, and to avoid throwing away the chance to win their first MotoGP world crown, they must start again from the Black Rules and not be consumed by potential internal tensions. Rivola and his men have always worked to maintain a calm atmosphere in the garage, and even now they know how important it is to keep a positive working environment in order to achieve Noale’s great dream. Marquez and Ducati are lying in wait, ready to capitalize on any misstep. Aprilia must react strongly as early as the next GP in Brno (June 19–21).