It was Mick Doohan who famously commented on his dominance during the mid-1990s, “What do they want me to do, ride slower?” or words to that effect. This was in response to the accusation that his dominance, which saw him leading often by over half a minute or more, to the point where he was literally cruising at the end of a race, was becoming boring.
Which, of course, it was. But who was to blame? Doohan and Honda for being so dominant, or the rest of the field for being unable to catch up? Any race team comprising hundreds of personnel is responsible for the success or otherwise of a team, but it is the rider who bears the brunt of the criticism for dominance, as he does for the failure to perform. Life isn’t always fair.
Racing has always thrown up era of domination, be it on two wheels or four; MV Agusta, Hailwood and Agostini in the 1960s, McLaren/Williams/Senna Prost in the late 1980s, Rossi/Honda/Yamaha in the 2000s, Marquez/Honda in the 2010s; Vettel/Hamilton/Verstappen, Mercedes and Red Bull also in the 2010s. It’s inevitable – the natural order of things.
In MotoGP, Ducati has been dominant in the first half of the 2020s, but who’s to say how long this will continue into the future? And, if it does, who’s to say that it will be boring? Come the rule changes in 2027, it’s likely that one team will get it more right than the others, but it’s also likely that more than one team will get their sums right and produce a winner. We can but hope.
I have always tried not to tie an allegiance to a particular rider or team. Naturally, I have my favourites, but I try not to let them interfere with my passion for good racing. Unfortunately, as much as I respect what Marc Marquez is doing at the moment, it’s not making for particularly exciting racing. However, that has as much to do with the rules as one rider’s talent. But still, we’re back to the blame being heaped on one particular rider, not the other riders or the teams.
Marc Marquez has his fair share of critics, but sometimes it feels as if he is hated for not only beating Valentino Rossi – the fans’ darling – but for not being Rossi. Marquez’s dominance through the 2010s was no different to Rossi’s in the 2000s, but he’s frequently reviled for it, whereas Rossi was loved. Yes, Rossi worked his charm with the fans, but Marquez hasn’t exactly been a recluse.
Now, in 2025, the Marquez dominance is back, with devastating effect; a remarkable achievement after a near career-ending injury. 10 Sprint wins and seven GP victories out of eleven, giving him an 83-point lead over Alex Marquez and a frankly ridiculous 147-point lead over his teammate. Bagnaia proved that it is possible to overturn a large deficit when he beat Quartararo to the title in 2022, but Alex Marquez simply hasn’t got the pace to deal with big brother and close the points gap, not while Marc stays on the bike and finishes each race, at any rate.
The Sachsenring has been a happy hunting ground for Marquez over the past 15 years. Put simply, when he has raced there, he has won, by and large. That’s 12 victories – one in the 125cc class, two in the Moto2 class and the rest in MotoGP. Did anyone really think it was going to be any different this year? And that is Marquez’ secret weapon; he has the competition beaten before they even get to the circuit on a Thursday. Even the tracks he wasn’t expecting to do well at this year, he’s won at. That’s a huge psychological advantage.
Germany 2025 was the first race since 2011 to have only ten finishers. The starting grid for the Main race was already looking depleted, Maverick Vinales and Franco Morbidelli withdrawing through injuries sustained during practice and the Sprint race, Enea Bastianini being signed off work due to illness, and Somkiat Chantra recovering from surgery.
Then the race saw an unprecedented number of fallers; Joan Mir, Ai Ogura, Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio DiGiannantonio, who both crashed out of podium positions, Lorenzo Savadori, Johann Zarco, Pedro Acosta and Miguel Oliveira. Many of the crashes were at turn one, which has a downhill braking area, following a small crest, so the rear tyre goes completely light and throws all the weight onto the front tyre.
Normally, that’s not a problem, as that is exactly what happens under braking. The problem on Sunday was the fact that A) the track had been washed clean by the rain the previous day so there was already reduced grip and B) the temperature was too cool for the hard tyres that all runners were using in order to go the full 30 lap distance, so they could hardly get up to the correct temperature.
For two riders, the number of crashes was a positive bonus. Alex Marquez was riding with injuries sustained at Assen, and he doubted he could have challenged for the podium, but the crashes made him more cautious, which suited his physical condition, and he was in the right place to benefit. Similarly, Pecco Bagnaia, who started tenth and wasn’t likely to trouble the podium had it not been for the crashes, was promoted to third. A fat lot of good it will do him in the championship race, and he can’t claim any significant improvement in his feel on the bike, so it was a hollow third, even if it was still a podium.
There was something else that occurred to me as I watched the race: what has happened to Alex Rins? It doesn’t seem that long ago that he was challenging for race victories, but he’s all but dropped completely off the radar in 2025.
Yamaha has been in the news for all the wrong reasons for the past two or three years. This year, the team is in the news for more positive reasons – the development of its new V4 engine. The team has also been in the news thanks to the efforts of Fabio Quartararo, taking pole positions and the very occasional podium, as well as leading the British GP convincingly before dropping out with mechanical issues. He finished third in the Sprint race and fourth in the Main race in Germany.
But Rins has been completely invisible this season; can you remember when he was last mentioned in the commentary for any race? In Germany, he was 39 seconds behind Marquez at the flag, 18 seconds behind the next rider up the road. That’s not slow, that’s glacial in MotoGP terms.
I don’t think it will be the end of his career, performing like that, as it might well be for some other riders, but what can it be doing to his confidence? Likewise, MotoGP teams will be looking to Moto3 and Moto2 for the next star rider, and when they spot them, they’ll be looking for ways to make room for them in MotoGP. The underperformance of the Yamahas might have nothing to do with Rins, but that will have little weight when it comes time to finalise the line-up for the following season.
There’s only a week to wait for the next round, Brno in the Czech Republic. Anyone brave enough to bet against Marc Marquez?
