What Luca Marini has now privately said about Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez’s MotoGP dispute

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Luca Marini just secured one of the most important results of his MotoGP career so far at the Valencia Grand Prix.

The Italian rider finished in seventh place – exactly where Honda needed him to be in order to move up to Tier C of MotoGP’s concessions.

As a result, Marini will be excluded from their test days next year, but that won’t bother him too much. For now, his team have something to celebrate.

After a dark few years, the Valencia Grand Prix helped to deliver some rare joy for the Japanese manufacturer. Things are looking promising again.

Honda have a ‘phenomenal’ bike for 2026, according to Ducati. They would love to be in the fight for victories again.

Marini says Marc Marquez caused Honda to suffer because their reliance on him was too heavy. Now they’re a few years past that, and things are starting to look up.

READ MORE: Luca Marini tells MotoGP bosses what they will ‘have to change’ for 2026 after Marc Marquez crash

Luca Marini has said he doesn’t understand the ‘fuss’ between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez

Marini has ‘impressed’ Honda engineers this season, and for the first time in his career, scored points at every race he saw the finish line in.

For a few months, Honda’s 2026 rider line-up was a secret, as the team waited to see how its pool of talent performed.

Now, they look like they’re in a really strong position, and Marini has weighed in on the dispute between half-brother Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez. Mat Oxley has revealed what the 28-year-old has told him about them.

“Weirdly, I interviewed Marini,” he said. “I had an interview with Marini on Thursday. If you’re a journalist, you always leave the tough questions, or the ones that they might tell you to f— off, until last.

“So, at the end, I said, ‘You’ve always seemed to have kept completely out of the Marc, Valentino thing.’ Obviously, he’s Valentino’s half-brother, and he’s just not interested in that whole stuff.

“He just said, ‘Yeah, I don’t know why everybody is still in a fuss about it.’ Especially since his brother is still fussed by it [it’s a shock], you know what I mean.”

READ MORE: Valentino Rossi ally outlines why there is ‘no chance’ the MotoGP icon will ‘forgive’ Marc Marquez

Why the last 12 months have been excellent for Luca Marini and Honda

After the 2024 season, not only was Honda’s bike in a bad place, but Marini had just registered a fairly difficult campaign. He finished no higher than 12th on a Sunday.

In 2025, he finished below that just twice and was one of the most consistent riders on the grid. He crashed just three times.

He has proven to Honda that he more than deserves a spot in their team at the moment, and the future is looking a lot brighter for him.

In 2026, there’s a genuine chance that he can add to his tally of two podiums and earn himself a ride heading into the new regulations in 2027.