Marc Marquez responds to Bagnaia ‘super good or a disaster’ team-mate quip

Marc Marquez ‘thinks, hopes and wishes’ that his relationship inside the factory Ducati garage with fellow multi-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia ‘will be good’ in 2025.

Currently competing for Gresini during his debut Ducati campaign, Marquez was responding to Bagnaia’s words during an interview with MotoGP.com, where the Italian said their future partnership “could be super good, or a disaster!”

“So we will have to see next year when we start," Bagnaia added. "Could be a disaster if in case we start to scream or we start to have some ‘discussions’.

"But I think we are both very smart and he will adapt perfectly,” Bagnaia added.

Asked by Dorna’s Louis Suddaby about those words on the eve of this weekend’s Austrian MotoGP, Marquez emphasised the benefit of having two top riders as team-mates:

“I think, I hope and I wish that the relationship inside the garage will be good and in the end, I think competition inside the garage increases the level of [both] riders.

“It’s always been like this and always will be. I can learn from him, especially because he’s the top Ducati rider.”

Quizzed on the same topic during the official pre-event press conference Marquez also highlighted that, while it’s a new situation for him to move into the team of a MotoGP champion, he’s been paired with many top riders before (and beaten them all).

“It’ll be a new experience for me because [before] I was in the Repsol Honda team and the defending [champion]... Jorge Lorenzo arrived, Joan Mir arrived, who were two world champions.

"[But] it was a different situation because I knew better the bike. This will be a new experience for me because Pecco is the reference inside Ducati. He has the number one on his fairing, he is super fast, and I need to learn a lot from him and how he rides.

“Of course [already] now I have the data, but inside the same garage is always different and from that point and I hope that we can help each other. Because in the end if he's competitive and I'm competitive, this will be the biggest help inside the garage to increase our level.”

While the three riders ahead of him in the world championship - Jorge Martin, Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini - then struggled with the question of who they would like to be 2024 champion if they could not take the title, Marquez gave a clear answer:

“Pecco.”

Why?

“Because he will be my next team-mate, and I prefer to have the current world champion inside the garage.”

Bagnaia starts the 11th of 20 rounds just three points behind Martin at the top of the standings. Double Silverstone winner Enea Bastianini is 49 points from the top and Marquez 62 adrift.