Marc Marquez has the chance to equal Valentino Rossi’s record of seven MotoGP titles in 2025. His winning mentality has carried him throughout his career in the premier class.
The Spaniard’s aggression was instantly made apparent when he made the step to MotoGP in 2013 with Honda. Rossi was worried about Marquez after his debut race at Qatar, as he was immediately on the pace of the frontrunners and teammate Dani Pedrosa.
| Marc Marquez | Dani Pedrosa | |
| Wins | 56 | 9 |
| Poles | 63 | 7 |
| Podiums | 95 | 41 |
| Best position | 1st (6x) | 3rd (2013) |
Marquez’s fellow compatriot was well-established in MotoGP since 2006 and a consistent title contender. But as a rookie, the 32-year-old blew Pedrosa out of the park, winning the title over Jorge Lorenzo and Pedrosa, who was 34 points behind in third.
Pedrosa was given a hard time by Marquez as Honda teammates, struggling to match him until he retired in 2018. But the Spaniard was sometimes left unimpressed by 32-year-old’s riding style, most notably in an incident at the Aragon Grand Prix in 2013.
Dani Pedrosa questioned FIM stewards’ handling of Marc Marquez after he crashed into him at Aragon in 2013
Battling for the lead of the race, Marquez overtook Pedrosa before the latter suffered a violent highside and crashed out of the race. It was later discovered that the former had hit his teammate, breaking his traction control system.
Marquez went on to win his first of seven races at Aragon, but was handed a penalty point for the incident with Pedrosa. Speaking to Spanish television after the race, via quotes from Autosport, the 39-year-old was not happy with how the stewards were handling his teammate.
“Marc is always riding on the limit when he has riders in front,” he said. “This time, like he has been doing all year, he almost hit me from behind and when he touched me he broke the traction control sensor and I just flew.
“That was the end of my race; I fell because of that. It’s obvious that it doesn’t matter what I say now – it’s over now.
“On days like this you only hear the winner but I’d like to say that race control has been taking things too lightly with things that have been happening in recent years.
“A lot of experienced riders like myself have been trying to calm down others with less experience, but in this case, as usual, they have looked the other way.
“The ones who have been warning about this over the years, like Jorge or me, also know how to race over the limit, and everything is fine.”
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Francesco Bagnaia is now facing Dani Pedrosa’s struggles as Marc Marquez’s teammate at Ducati
Being Marquez’s teammate is not easy in MotoGP. The Spaniard has convincingly beaten every rider on the other side of his garage, besides his brother Alex at Honda in 2020, although that was because he missed the season due to a near-career-ending crash at Jerez.
In 2025, Marquez is thriving with Ducati as he has collected 11 wins out of a possible 16, including Sprint races, and leads the championship by 32 points over Alex Marquez.
Ducati teammate Francesco Bagnaia is 93 points behind in third, having struggled to match Marquez on the GP25, a bike he has constantly complained about having no feeling on. Pedrosa says Bagnaia has the same problem he had at Honda, as being Marquez’s teammate is a losing battle for any rider.
However, after Aragon, which Marquez won, the Italian may have found a breakthrough after Bagnaia changed the brake discs on his bike, improving the feeling when braking. Heading into Mugello, which the 28-year-old has won the last three years, he has the chance to swing the momentum.
