Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez was officially unveiled as a Ducati rider earlier this week after his move from Gresini. But aside from the red overalls, there was one major change.
Marquez has been a Red Bull athlete throughout his MotoGP career, but he won’t be able to display their logo in 2025. That’s because Ducati have a deal with Monster Energy, rivals in the energy drink sector.
The Spaniard remains in the Red Bull stable as one of their flagship athletes. He’s joined by Max Verstappen, who’s won the last four Formula 1 world championships.
Marquez is four years older than Verstappen but they’re comparable in a number of ways. The former won the MotoGP title in his rookie year, while the latter became F1’s youngest race-winner when he took victory on debut for Red Bull.
Both are pursuing the all-time greats in the leaderboards. Marquez needs one more title to match Valentino Rossi’s premier class haul (seven), and two more to equal Giacomo Agostini, while Verstappen is bidding to equal Michael Schumacher’s F1 record of five on the bounce.
Marquez has also likened himself to Lewis Hamilton, who’s just joined Ferrari. He says their names carry comparable ‘weight’ in their sports, even as the next generation emerge.
Marc Marquez wants to be seen as the ‘terminator’ – just like Max Verstappen
Speaking on The Race MotoGP podcast, journalist Val Khorounzhiy offered some insight into Marquez’s psyche. He wants to make as many friends as possible off the race track.
But on it, he’s determined to ‘bully’ his rivals. This, he says, is the mentality Verstappen possesses.
The entire MotoGP world is waiting to see whether Marquez can maintain a healthy relationship with new teammate Francesco Bagnaia this season. He’s just joined him at the factory Ducati squad.
Bagnaia is ready to call on Valentino Rossi, his close confidante and Marquez’s bitter rival, to control the media narrative if needed.
“He has that Max Verstappen formula,” Khorounzhiy said. “That’s the thing they have in common. They really do want to be quite liked off-track. They want everybody to be friends with them, they want to be the life of the party, they want to crack good jokes.
“But on track they want to be seen as the terminator. They want to be seen as somebody who eliminates rivals with no regard for them, and bullies them, and dominates them. That pleases them as a vision.”
What Formula 1 superstar Max Verstappen has said about MotoGP counterpart Marc Marquez
Some MotoGP paddock figures think Marquez will thrash Bagnaia this season, but they don’t want to go public with that prediction. The Italian has been with the Ducati factory squad since 2021, but Marquez demands respect as statistically the most successful rider on the grid.
Speaking on ServusTV recently, Verstappen argued that Marquez was still ‘the best’ despite his injury-related title drought. The number 93 rider will look to prove that this year.
Marquez has played down his title chances as he makes the transition from a GP23 to a GP25. But in private, he would surely be bitterly disappointed to miss out, particularly given that his teammate is likely to be the only other challenger.
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