Marc Marquez points out a controversial MotoGP penalty which must change

Marc Marquez insists he supports MotoGP’s controversial tyre pressure rules but believes the current penalties for non-compliance are excessive.

The Ducati Lenovo rider and runaway 2025 title leader was forced to back off and deliberately surrender the lead of the Brno Sprint to Pedro Acosta after receiving a dashboard warning that he was at risk of failing to complete 30% of race laps above the minimum front pressure.

After allowing the KTM rider past, Marquez tucked into Acosta’s slipstream to increase his tyre temperature and pressure, then calmly reclaimed the lead to win.

The same strategy previously helped Marquez avoid a penalty in Buriram but requires a slower rider behind, to stay in the slipstream and then make a re-pass once the tyre pressure has been raised.

But if the nearest opponent is quicker late in the race, the rider backing off might not only lose a position but still get a post-race penalty, as happened to Maverick Vinales in Qatar.

Brno also saw Marquez’s team-mate Francesco Bagnaia fall victim to the pressure regulations, due to a dashboard malfunction.

Bagnaia wrongly believed he was under the minimum limit, let several riders past, and dropped from second to seventh, only to learn after the race that he had been safely over the threshold all along.

Marc Marquez wants a MotoGP penalty to change

Despite the ongoing controversy and post-race investigations, Marquez made clear he agrees with the existence of the tyre pressure rule:

“I agree with that rule, because in the end it’s a safety rule,” Marquez said.
“It’s true that the penalty is, in my opinion, too much. I would say yes, it can be fewer seconds.”

MotoGP currently imposes post-race penalties of +8 seconds for a Sprint race and +16 seconds for a Grand Prix if a rider fails to complete the required percentage of laps (30% in a Sprint, 60% in a GP) above the minimum pressure.

“For me, reduce the penalty in half. Like 4 seconds in the Sprint and 8 seconds in the long race. That would make more sense,” Marquez said.

“Now 8 seconds in the Sprint and 16 seconds in the race is a huge penalty and it's better to wait for the others.”

Marquez stressed that trying to build a race-winning margin to absorb the penalty, rather than adjusting pressure mid-race, was never an option in the Czech Republic.

“In a Sprint race, you cannot do it. You cannot open an eight-second gap.”

While reducing the penalty could make it fairer in Marquez’s view, the risk is that it would encourage more riders to race flat out while under the limit, rather than adjusting their pace mid-race to avoid a sanction.

That would mean more laps being completed below the safe pressure threshold - counter to the rule’s original intent - and more results potentially being altered post-race.

Meanwhile, Michelin is open to the possibility of allowing in-race tyre pressure penalties to avoid the post-race judgements.