Marc Marquez compared to Max Verstappen after Thai MotoGP win

After winning both the Sprint and the Grand Prix at the opening MotoGP round in Thailand last weekend, Marc Marquez’s prospects in the 2025 MotoGP World Championship have been compared to those of Max Verstappen in 2023 by 1999 500cc World Champion Alex Criville.

Criville, whose 1999 success made him the first Spanish rider to win the premier class title, said that the way in which Ducati Lenovo's Marquez won in Thailand – where he led the opening six laps, then purposely dropped into second place in order to increase his front tyre pressure for legality reasons, before reclaiming the lead with two laps to go and winning by 1.5 seconds  – reminded him of the dominant campaign of Verstappen in 2023, in which the Dutchman won 19 of the 22 Grands Prix that year.

Marc Marquez compared to Max Verstappen

“The favourite [for the title] is clearly Marc Marquez,” Criville told Radio Marca, as reported by Spanish website Relevo.

“I see Marc very happy because he sees his brother who has progressed a lot and is in podium position, he is very close to him.

“And from there Bagnaia will have to wake up to try to fight for that world title because clearly Marc is much superior this season, very fit.

“I would say that it reminds me a bit of the [Max] Verstappen of Formula 1 that went out and made it easy. It looks like this could happen a little.”

Criville added that Marquez could not have had a better start to his 2025 MotoGP campaign than that he enjoyed in Thailand.

“You can't start better, with the Marquez brothers who won, finished first and second in Thailand,” he said.

“Now Marc is in the best shape, with the best bike, the best team, he's very motivated.

“I think that this year, if nothing happens, there is still a long way to go, 21 races, this has just started, but he has it very well on track to make us enjoy ourselves a lot, after so many years without having fought for the world championship.”