One eye-opening statistic confirms Marc Marquez isn’t the same rider as he was at Honda

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Marc Marquez’s move to Ducati has been an overwhelming success over 12 months since it was announced.

The 32-year-old broke numerous records in 2025 on his way to securing a first MotoGP title in nearly six years.

Ducati had a decision to make about whether they thought he could still produce the goods before promoting him to the factory outfit.

Marquez was backed over Jorge Martin, who has missed the majority of the races this year through injury, but it feels like the right man was picked for the job.

After suffering an injury at the Indonesian Grand Prix, Marquez has been forced to cancel his ‘holidays’ to focus on the recovery of his shoulder.

Marquez may only want to sign a one-year Ducati deal for 2027, to allow him to assess where the opposition lies, and pick the best team to compete with in the future.

READ MORE: Marc Marquez told he possesses a talent ‘no one else’ on the MotoGP grid can match

Marc Marquez isn’t the same rider he was at Honda after crashing less than ever in 2025

Marquez’s exit changed Honda and the procedures within the team, and the Japanese manufacturer have only just started to recover from a difficult few years.

Towards his latter years with them, the seven-time champion faced quite a gruelling time, ending up in the gravel and picking his own bike far too often.

Honda had ‘no hard feelings’ when Marquez left, after enjoying an incredible period of success together, but those days were firmly behind them by 2023.

In that disappointing last season in 2023, Marquez suffered the most crashes in MotoGP (29). In 2024, he cut that to 24 on Gresini’s Ducati bike.

And, despite missing a handful of races at the end of the year, he had just 14 in 2025, which is a marked improvement.

Marquez was ‘desperate’ to avoid crashing at times, according to Neil Hodgson, and the concerted effort to avoid further damage will only be a good thing for him long-term.

READ MORE: Neil Hodgson says one of Marc Marquez’s 2025 MotoGP wins was an ‘impossible’ achievement

Should Marc Marquez go back to Honda for 2027?

Ducati struggled a little this year, and the developments added to the GP25 didn’t always appear to help them.

Their main task for 2026 is to fix the issues they faced, and try and prove to Marquez that they are the place to be for the new regulations in 2027.

They’ll also need to pay him what he’s worth. Marquez may be seeking a pay rise, and his performances command a fair raise.

Honda have a big budget and could offer that, but the big question is whether they offer him the chance to win. If they do, he might seek a fairytale ending to his career.