Analysis: Alex Marquez closes gap on Marc Marquez - but how?

Alex Marquez has made his best-ever start to a MotoGP campaign, finishing second behind brother Marc Marquez in the opening four races of 2025.

At the same stage last season, Alex had just 13 points on the GP23. This year, with the GP24, he has already amassed 58.

This year’s bike is clearly much more competitive than the satellite machinery used by both brothers as team-mates at Gresini last season.

But while Marc has won all the races and taken both pole positions, in terms of raw performance gains, Alex has benefited the most from the switch to the GP24.

The numbers: How much has Alex Marquez closed the gap?

To estimate the scale of Alex’s improvement, we compared the average gap between the brothers as team-mates last season with their qualifying and race results this year, with Marc now at the factory team.

Only sessions held in officially dry conditions, and where both brothers finished a race without falling, were included. Marc’s 16-second post-race tyre pressure penalty at Assen was also removed.

The figures don’t consider a range of other factors including different tyre choices and incidents such as being forced wide or serving in-race penalties.

But the overall trend shows that, while Alex was already a close match for Marc in qualifying last year, outpacing him in seven dry sessions, he has caught up massively in race performance so far this season:

*Dry sessions only, races both riders finished without falling etc.

Last season, Alex finished within 2.8 seconds of Marc in just one dry grand prix (Germany, +0.530s).

The Sprint deficit was even bigger, given they are only half-length races, although Alex inflicted his only race defeat on Marc at the Barcelona finale. Otherwise, Sachsenring at +2.920s was the closest he got.

But in 2025, Alex has averaged just 1.044s behind Marc in Sprints and 1.547s in full races, a drastic improvement from the 7.804s and 10.198s deficits across last season.

It’s a similar story in the only race so far that can be directly compared to last year: The Buriram Sprint. Marc beat Alex by 4.738s as team-mates in 2024, but the margin was only 1.185s this year.

How hard is Marc Marquez pushing?

One theory for Alex’s sudden closeness is that, now they are fighting for wins, Marc is pacing himself - riding as hard as necessary to take victory, rather than pushing to chase down faster riders, often the case on last year’s GP23.

In other words, Marc’s race pace is being set by his nearest rival; Alex, who has led large parts of both grands prix before being overtaken by Marc.

Marc, however, insists he is pushing to the limit, revealing he even considered settling for second in Argentina:

“I’m impressed about the level of Alex. He was riding super smooth, super fast. In one point of the race, I had some moments and said, ‘Today second place is enough’. But then with the used tyre, I started to catch him again and I attacked.”

Further evidence of Alex's personal improvement is that he is now outperforming all the rest of the Ducati riders, including double world champion Francesco Bagnaia:

Alex was only eighth in last year’s championship, finishing level on points with Franco Morbidelli and just ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio, who missed races due to injury.

Why is Alex Marquez so fast in 2025?

So what has changed? Does the GP24 naturally suit Alex’s riding style? Has Gresini found a superior set-up?

Marc believes the answer could lie in how Alex has adapted his bike for cornering speed.

“In Argentina, he set up the bike maybe more for the corner speed and flowing parts, and I set up the bike a little bit more for the hard braking points, which is my stronger point.

“But he was flowing a lot. Honestly, every lap I was thinking about turn six because it’s a left corner, and I said, ‘It’s not possible that he’s faster than me there!’ But he was.”

A less comfortable explanation - that Ducati may not want to hear - is that, although the GP25 currently uses the GP24 engine, chassis and aero, other winter updates are not proving beneficial.

That’s a theory hinted at by Marc’s factory team-mate Bagnaia, who has spoken of going “back to the GP24” from next weekend in Austin to try and improve his feeling with the rear tyre.

“It’s strange considering the bike is similar to last year,” Bagnaia admitted.

With COTA up next, a direct comparison between 2024 and 2025 race pace should offer even more insight into how the balance of power has changed among the Ducati riders.