Marc Marquez has ‘forbidden’ one of his Ducati colleagues from talking to the media before races

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Marc Marquez ‘controls everything’ at Ducati, according to Manuel Pecino. The world champion seemingly required no adjustment period when he joined at the start of the year.

Marquez picked up maximum points in five of the first six events of the season. Any expectations of a closely-fought battle with Francesco Bagnaia, who has been with the factory team since 2021, quickly unravelled.

Some feel that Marquez’s 2025 dominance was inevitable. The most successful rider on the grid was climbing onto the best bike, with Ducati entering the year on a run of five straight constructors’ titles.

But Marquez, the only rider who has consistently excelled on the GP25, has still put his own imprint on the team.

His impact could be felt long-term. Honda ‘followed the lead’ of Marquez, widely seen as one of MotoGP’s ‘aliens’, and created a bike that only he could ride effectively.

Marc Marquez has stopped Ducati’s Marco Rigamonti from doing pre-race TV interviews

Marquez is working with Marco Rigamonti, the former crew chief for Enea Bastianini and Andrea Iannone, this season. According to Pecino, he’s ‘forbidden’ Rigamonti from speaking to MotoGP broadcasters before races.

He wants the Italian to be as single-minded as possible in the hours before a race. Pecino adds that Bagnaia has issued the same instruction to his crew chief, Cristian Gabarrini.

Rigamonti has called Marquez a ‘complete’ rider and says his experience is invaluable for the engineers. The 32-year-old is the only rider on the grid to start more than 200 races.

“A stroke of genius from Marc,” Pecino said on Nico Abad’s YouTube channel. “He has everything planned out. He has forbidden his crew chief from speaking to television before the [race] broadcast. He wants him to be focused and alone with him. In other words, he controls everything.

“Pecco immediately found out about it and said, ‘Well, mine doesn’t talk either!'”

Is Marc Marquez responsible for Francesco Bagnaia’s woes?

Former engineer Giulio Bernardelle believes that Marquez knows Ducati’s 2025 bike is inferior to last year’s model. However, he’s keeping quiet because he can ride around the problems.

Pivoting back to the GP24 would perhaps have been in Ducati’s collective interests, but it may also have levelled the playing field, making Bagnaia a bigger threat to Marquez.

This is all speculation, of course. Bagnaia does have an opportunity to have a greater say in Ducati’s 2026 development path, with Marquez out of the Valencia test.

Bagnaia refuses to blame Marquez’s arrival for his drop-off this season, pointing out that he struggled in Australia even with his teammate absent through injury.