The uncomfortable truth is that Ducati are powerless to force team orders

MotoGP has a lot to thank the Marquez brothers for this week. Both Marc and Alex Marquez stole the spotlight in Aragon for very different reasons.

Marc Marquez’s domination of the Aragon weekend put to bed four years of misery and uncertainty for the eight-time world champion. And while repeating that at Misano this week in the same fashion is unlikely, it’s inconceivable that we won’t see him on top of the podium again at some point in the remaining eight rounds.

Alex Marquez’s controversial collision with Francesco Bagnaia late on in the Aragon GP has also dominated the news cycle. Bagnaia blamed Marquez for the incident and says the data shows he opened his throttle when the pair made contact.

These were claims the younger Marquez brother vehemently denied, who took to social media in a separate post to step in front of these claims after both had made their frank exchanges to the media on Sunday afternoon at Aragon.

Race Direction hauled both into its office, but no action was deemed necessary.

Many have taken the opportunity since to stoke the fires of 2015 - when Marc Marquez and Bagnaia’s mentor Valentino Rossi fell out in a blaze of controversy - and pointing out how this incident somehow clearly is a continuation of that.

While the tinfoil hat brigade on social media took up arms as soon as both riders had finished rolling through the gravel (and the fact we are yet to hear Rossi’s opinion), not much is likely to come going forward between Alex Marquez and Bagnaia.

Largely, this is because Bagnaia and Alex Marquez spend very little time actually racing each other. The situation Bagnaia found himself in at Aragon was unfortunate, but also avoidable had he picked his moment a little better than he ultimately did.

He has paid the price for that, with Jorge Martin finishing second to take a 23-point lead in the championship. If you believe in omens, and as history has often pointed to after the Aragon GP, the championship leader at this point goes on to win the title. The nightmare for Ducati of Martin taking the #1 plate to Aprilia next year gets a little more vivid every time Bagnaia loses ground.

Bagnaia will have something to say about that, but he does - for the second year in a row - come to the San Marino GP not 100% fit. Therefore, the aftereffects of Aragon could deal yet more damage to his championship points situation.

Will Ducati riders listen to orders?

Mentally, Bagnaia is in a precarious situation now. He’s endured his worst weekend of the year while future team-mate Marc Marquez has had his best. The dynamics of this could have a massive bearing on the destiny of the 2024 world title and could also set the tone for 2025 when the pair share the factory Ducati box.

Bagnaia will have a chip on his shoulder to get back to winning ways like he enjoyed just a few weeks ago in Austria and ideally do so in as dominant a fashion to rebalance that internal equilibrium in Ducati.

Talk must now also turn to factory orders within Ducati. It’s something the manufacturer has often shied away from in recent years and something Bagnaia himself has turned his nose up at, insisting he doesn’t want to win titles this way.

In 2022 Ducati did instruct its riders who weren’t fighting for the championship that they were free to win races, but do so in a way that wasn’t going to be too risky for Bagnaia when they raced him.

But arguably it needs to go further than that this year. There was no need for Alex Marquez to be fighting over third place with Bagnaia as hard as he was, which led to the tangle. That incident could very easily have ended Bagnaia’s season there and then.

While both riders individually can be blamed for their part, a strict instruction pre-race from Ducati could have potentially avoided it altogether.

But here’s the rub: Ducati needs factory orders more than ever, but it has engineered a situation for itself where it has a stable of riders who will have no interest - and, in their minds, no obligation - to listen.

At points last year when asked about factory orders, Alex Marquez was quick to point out that Ducati hadn’t spoken to him - but that he wasn’t contracted by the Italian manufacturer. Translation: ‘Gresini pays my wages and I do what’s best for my team’.

To boot, if Marc Marquez does further close the gap in the standings, Alex - while his own rider - isn’t likely to roll over for other Ducati riders in that scenario.

Ducati could put a bit of pressure on its satellite teams to follow orders. But Gresini isn’t factory supported, Pramac is on its way to Yamaha next year and VR46 won’t have much luck in getting Marco Bezzecchi to listen to those now he’s off to Aprilia.

Even within its factory team Ducati isn’t going to get Enea Bastianini to listen to any factory orders. Right now, he can say he’s still a title challenger at only 71 points adrift in the standings. But beyond that, he’s signed for KTM for 2025, and even a few years ago Bastianini didn’t exactly follow factory orders in his battles with Bagnaia late in the 2022 season.

Ducati has lost control over most of its stable - another direct consequence of Marc Marquez’s powerplay move to get into the factory team for 2025.

Ironically, though, it could be Marc Marquez who helps Ducati in this instance. Issuing factory orders on him right now won’t happen so long as he has a shot at the championship. But because of that, if his Aragon form continues he could prove vital in limiting Bagnaia’s damage to Martin in the standings on the days - like Aragon - where the reigning world champion falters.

Beyond that, though, Ducati will have to just sit back and hope the cards fall in its favour where its blushes are spared for the rest of 2024…