Marc Marquez’s Hungary domination sets a frightful new high point in MotoGP 2025

Since the MotoGP paddock departed Silverstone at the end of May, Marc Marquez has completely annexed the top of the results sheets. From the Aragon Grand Prix to last weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, he has won seven sprints and seven grands prix. That equates to 259 points, which would ridiculously put him second in the championship alone and just 21 points shy of the standings lead.

If you take all of the points scored from last in the championship up to Jack Miller in 17th, they all combine for 217 for the entire season. Such has been his form in 2025, Marquez would still lead the championship on grand prix points alone with 290 versus 280 for Alex Marquez from sprints and main races.

Though he claims it “impossible”, Marc Marquez has done such a job this season that he is facing the very real prospect of winning a seventh premier class world title by mid-September’s San Marino Grand Prix.

To do so, mathematically, he has to leave the upcoming Catalan Grand Prix 185 points clear of Alex Marquez having already opened that gap to 175. That would put him 37 away, which would require a double victory at Misano and a some DNFs for his younger brother to get to the unassailable 222 points target.

“They gave me the numbers, and I have to say, I wish to have the first opportunity in Japan or Mandalika because if I have it in Misano it means my brother had a disaster weekend in Catalunya and I want the best for him,” the factory Ducati rider, rather sweetly, said on this matter.

But what the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend proved is that a “disaster” is something his nearest title challenger is at big risk of, as he suffered his worst qualifying of the year in 11th, which became 14th with a grid penalty, before he crashed in the grand prix and could do no more than 14th.

And while all of that was going on, Marc Marquez was on pole, winning the sprint from start to finish and brushing aside lap one contact to dominate the grand prix: “I cannot lie, today I was comfortable,” he said, somewhat demoralisingly.

The 32-year-old deemed his current dominant run as “not normal”. No rider in history has won seven grands prix in a row for two different manufacturers. Seven in a row hasn’t happened since 2014, when Marquez was in his second year on the factory Honda. Thirteen sprint wins in a single season in the current format is also unprecedented.

Certainly, there has been a greater threat posed to him of late from those behind and this golden run will have to come to an end at some point.

But there is also the other possibility that this is, in fact, the new normal in MotoGP now.

Rival challenge at Hungarian MotoGP proves to be an illusion

Taking nothing away from Marquez’s season. But one thing that has certainly made his domination easier has been the overall lacklustre challenge he has faced from legitimate weekend threats.

Pecco Bagnaia promised so much on Friday at the Austrian Grand Prix, only to fall away when it really mattered. When Alex Marquez, often the second-best rider this season, has dropped the ball, it’s fallen through the floor and caved the whole building in (Hungary and Czechia being perfect examples of this).

And at Balaton Park, there looked like a genuine two-way battle between Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta shaping up after Friday practice. The factory KTM, running well with its updates from Austria, and Acosta’s style synced with the Hungarian circuit and he was fast in race pace during Friday afternoon’s Practice session.

But when it mattered, he bottled it. Acosta crashed - and nearly killed a cameraman - hard at the start of Q2, totalling a KTM fitted with some front forks that were helping him greatly to find speed at Balaton Park. He had to complete Q2 on a less competitive bike and could only manage seventh on the grid. And there went his victory hopes.

Once more it fell to Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi to take the fight to Marquez. Electing for the soft rear instead of the medium that Marquez rode, Bezzecchi - having come through Q1 - launched from second to snatch the lead on the cutback from Turn 1 to Turn 2.

Marquez ambitiously tried to come back up the inside but ended up running out of room and hitting into Bezzecchi. Bits of fairing flicked away and Marquez dropped behind VR46’s Franco Morbidelli to third.

Bezzecchi admitted after the race that he simply didn’t have the pace on Sunday to run the more durable medium. His only strategy, then, was to try and get out front early on the soft and see what happens. And, much like in Austria, Bezzecchi really did run a hot pace to begin with.

At the start of lap five of 26, he was up 0.997s on Morbidelli and 1.248s on Marquez in third. When the Ducati pair behind swapped places on lap five at Turn 5, Marquez - his medium rear coming up to temperature - emptied his pockets.

At the end of lap five, Bezzecchi’s lead was down to 0.789s, with Marquez 0.459s quicker with a 1m37.994s versus a 1m38.453s for the Aprilia rider. Next time around, the lead was down to 0.333s and was under a tenth as they began the eighth tour. Bezzecchi’s astute defending, however, meant both attempts by Marquez to take the lead on lap eight were foiled.

On lap 11, at Turn 1, Marquez did find his way through before beginning the defining phase of the race. A 1m38.343s put him 0.754s clear of Bezzecchi at the end of lap 11, while a 1m37.699s next time around boosted his lead to 1.450s. In other words, game over.

“It’s never easy,” Marquez said. “And I know, and I’m always trying to think, that I’m in a dream. I’m dreaming. Because it’s not normal to win 14 starts in a row, meaning sprint and main race. But it’s true that this weekend I felt super comfortable, but for example in Austria Bezzecchi was pushing super hard in the first laps. Then arrived Fermin [Aldeguer].

“Then will arrive next weekend in Catalunya. But it’s true that, for me, the most important thing is to be competitive in every condition, in every race track, in different layouts and always be there in the top three. The moment will arrive where some Saturdays or some Sundays somebody will be faster than me. Then, I will need to accept and finish the race.”

Marquez did a pretty poor job of not making his race look easy. At the chequered flag he was 4.314s in front. On the final lap, he elected to post a 1m37.838s (1.1s quicker than his previous tour and a second faster than Pedro Acosta’s final lap behind him) to “understand where the limit was”. Why not, I suppose…

With Hungary out of the way, an intriguing portion of the season arrives. Barcelona is a circuit Marquez considers to be “one of my weakest”, even if he was on the podium at both Catalunya events last year, while Misano will be one Aprilia has in its sights. Beyond that, the flyaway rounds often thrown up a multitude of factors that make for unpredictable racing.

But, going forward from Hungary, it’s hard to see any other outcome other than Marquez maintaining this “dream” run as he continues to cement this has one of the greatest seasons for a rider ever.

The outgoing world champion shows his teeth

As Marc Marquez gets set to add his name once more to the world championship trophy, its current top occupant leaves Hungary flexing his muscles.

Jorge Martin hasn’t enjoyed much of 2025, but he’ll sure emerge from it stronger than ever as a rider and as a person. Since coming back to the Aprilia, contract saga brushed under the rug, he has steadily been building up his mileage and confidence on the RS-GP.

A run to seventh at Brno was a good start. The Austrian Grand Prix was a bit of a reality check, but his body withstood a reasonably heavy crash. The Hungarian Grand Prix didn’t start of great, as he fell out of Q2 on Friday and then could only get a lap time good enough for 17th out of his bike.

He carved his way through the pack in the sprint to ninth, before brilliantly coming through to fourth in the grand prix. On a circuit with limited overtaking opportunities, Martin was lining them up left, right and centre.

In the latter stages, he had pace comparable to that of Marquez. In the end, he finished 11.069s off the win, but more importantly was just under four seconds from team-mate Marco Bezzecchi.

Looking at the pair’s pace, a better qualifying would have made Martin a genuine podium contender at Balaton Park. On average, there was just 0.002s difference per lap between the pair, and that was with Martin overtaking his way from the bottom half of the grid.

The adaptation process is still ongoing. Martin noted afterwards that he was even adjusting his handlebars on the starting grid. But he is convinced he is well on his way to podiums and even race wins again this year.

Marquez believes it will be “sooner rather than later” that Martin will be back up challenging at the front. The Spaniard, for now, is keeping expectations in check for his return to the scene of his title win last November when the Catalan Grand Prix takes place. But at a more familiar venue - and one he has at least some reference around on the Aprilia - having produced what he did in Hungary, Martin will be one to watch.

Pecco Bagnaia goes through hell but comes out smiling

The unfortunate thing about Pecco Bagnaia’s 2025 season is that the nadir is a moving target. At points, it’s been hard to see how things could get any worse. And then the Hungarian Grand Prix weekend redefined that benchmark.

Ducati’s test day on street bikes earlier this month revealed to Bagnaia that he was in for a tough one. Every single type of track characteristic that he has struggled with on the GP25 was present and correct.

He was 15th in FP1, 14th in PR, 18th in FP2, 15th in qualifying, 13th in the sprint and last in warm-up. At no point did Bagnaia look comfortable on the bike, the GP25 in his hands never looking like it was going to stop on the way into corners. The inside of the Ducati garage looked like a funeral at times at how glum the faces were.

Ducati turned the bike inside out and upside down, trying radical set-up solutions with nothing to lose. In the grand prix, he took the chequered flag 14.854 seconds behind Marc Marquez in ninth. So, it was something quite unexpected to see Bagnaia smiling at the end of the day when he confronted the media.

“We managed to improve what we were needing to improve,” he said. “Finally I was able to feel the bike, I was able to feel the front, I was able to brake hard. In two situations I overshot in two corners because I was feeling much better.”

Comparisons were beginning to be drawn between this weekend for Bagnaia and Marquez’s 2023 German Grand Prix, where the beginning of the end of the latter’s time with Honda started as all confidence in the bike was sapped from him after five crashes.

Bagnaia was already backtracking on comments he made in Austria, where he said his patience for running out, when MotoGP got to Balaton Park. That, arguably, was the wrong thing to do if he genuinely believes the bike is the problem as it only left him exposed.

But Sunday’s turnaround seems to have pulled everything back from the brink, at least for now. There really is not telling till we get to Barcelona, but if this progression continues then Hungary will be looked back on as the tough learning experience that unlocked a double world champion’s restrained potential.