If ever there was an emphatic answer to the travails of the past couple of races, both of which he lost, then it would be Marc Marquez’ complete domination of the Spanish GP at Aragon; fastest in every practice session, pole position, Sprint and Main race wins and fastest lap. It doesn’t happen often; the last time that happened was back in 2015 in Germany, and the rider to accomplish that was none other than Marc Marquez. If ever there was an indication that Marquez, the elder, was back on top after too many years in the injury wilderness, then that was surely it?

Even though the Aragon victories were not unexpected, given that the track has previously been a happy hunting ground for Marc, the level of dominance, coupled with the attendant increase in his championship lead, will certainly have provoked a sense of resignation among his rivals up and down the pit lane. After a few races without a victory and including some unforced errors, Marquez needed a race in which to stamp his authority on the championship once again, and you’d have to say it was job done.

Or maybe not. After yet another disastrous Sprint race, Pecco Bagnaia suddenly came alive in the Main race, finishing on the podium in third place. A greater contrast between Saturday and Sunday there could not have been, and, apparently, it was all down to a change in front brake discs. A change to a larger disc size seems to have made all the difference.

“Until yesterday (Saturday), I was using all my force to decelerate the bike, but the bike wouldn’t decelerate and I was locking everywhere,” said Bagnaia after the race. “Today we just changed something on the disc and from the start of the day (Warm Up) I was able to brake harder when I needed, brake less when I felt that the front was locking, so it was a huge step for me and it was a little detail that has given to me a bit more confidence that has helped me to be competitive lap-by-lap.”

“Before the change, I was losing the front, understeering everywhere, and it was quite difficult for me to be competitive yesterday in the Sprint race – I tried, but the front was locking in every corner, so it was tough. “Today, from this morning, I was feeling much better, maybe the disc has helped, but maybe not just the disc. I was able to force the entry of the corners, and the feeling was that the tyre was there, not that I was losing it, so it was a huge relief for me.”

“We just changed the disc of the bike, and it’s something that we never did in the past, and it’s something that we were not thinking about because normally it’s always the same. It was a huge step and it helped me to be able to brake less and reduce the speed more. Until yesterday, I was the one with more pressure on the brake and less deceleration, so it was a bit strange, and this morning it was better already with changing just this.”

He added, “We decided to upgrade the disc, to move to a bigger one, and I feel a bit better. It’s important to find some solution or to try another step, just to believe in a victory at home because Mugello is a track where I was always super-competitive and I want to arrive there and at least fight for it, not like this weekend that I finished on the podium but I never had the chance to win.

“So, I would like to have a chance at least. I don’t think it’s the solution to my feeling, but it’s something that has helped.”

Mugello and Assen – the next two tracks on the calendar – have been successful races for Bagnaia in the past, so he will be hoping for the good feeling to continue through today’s test at Aragon and into the next month of racing. He may be 93 points off championship leader Marquez, but, as 2022 proved, that is not necessarily insurmountable, although it is hard to see anyone but Marc Marquez taking the title in 2025 if he can maintain his current form. Of course, Alex Marquez is also still in with a shot, so Bagnaia has twice the trouble he had in 2022, but you don’t win two consecutive championships without knowing a thing or two about how to race. A competitive Bagnaia will almost certainly give the Marquez brothers something to think about.

What was also encouraging was to see both Acosta and Binder fighting in the top five, with Binder even setting fastest lap at one point, after too many races where they have been languishing far down the order. If Acosta wasn’t able to successfully challenge Bagnaia and Binder ultimately crashed out, it was still a step in the right direction, but, as always with KTM, it remains to be seen if this is the start of a consistent patch or if it will be business as usual at Mugello. Binder, at least, is confident that he is moving in the right direction in setting up his bike, with more weight on the front to prevent it washing out underneath him.

One thing is certain, however; after the last two rounds at Le Mans and Silverstone, with both factory riders being very vocal about the RC16’s shortcomings, something desperately needs to be done if KTM firstly is to not lose Acosta, secondly if Binder is not going to have his reputation damaged too much and, not least of all, if KTM is to continue in MotoGP, see here.

Aragon signalled progress of a sort for the Austrian manufacturer, but was it a flash in the pan? We’ll have to wait two weeks to find out.

In Aragon, if the top four remained relatively static, then at least we had a bit of entertainment from Morbidelli and Aldeguer, who were squabbling over fifth, the verdict going in favour of Morbidelli at the flag. But the fact remains that overtaking is still a rarity in modern MotoGP.

Hopefully, the rule changes in 2027 will make a difference – smaller engines and no ride-height devices and, more pertinently, a reduction in aero dimensions. Do the rules go far enough? Personally, I can’t see why aero cannot be banned altogether, perhaps by introducing maximum bodywork dimension rules. The fact is, however, that having tasted the benefits of aerodynamic downforce, teams will be loath to lose it altogether and would no doubt come up with more interesting fairing designs to compensate for the loss of downforce should their “wings” be clipped.

There is an argument that technical innovation should not be stifled in a prototype racing series. The problem is that every innovation makes the bikes faster until we get to a point where they are too dangerously fast for even the modern racing circuit, complete with its huge run-off areas.

Some will argue that the rule book is already too restrictive to imaginative engineering thinking, and it is true that today’s rule book is vastly longer than it was, say, twenty years ago. But perhaps this is the point of racing: to put up roadblocks and let the engineers navigate a way around them, thus stimulating development. As long as that development is not at the expense of good, close and, essentially, exciting racing.

Every week, there are dozens of stories emanating from the MotoGP circus, involving every rider and every team. There is one story, however, that has particular relevance for South Africa as it concerns the team our local hero rides for: KTM.

The Austrian manufacturer’s financial troubles have been extensive and well-documented over the past year or so, but it appears that financial stability has returned to the company following a significant investment from several investors, most notably the Indian manufacturer Bajaj. The company already owned 49% of KTM but now, thanks to an initial 170 million pounds Sterling injection and, most recently, a further 500 million pounds Sterling boost, Bajaj is the majority shareholder.

So, all is now rosy in Austria? Well, not exactly. While three of India’s motorcycle companies, Hero Motocorp, Royal Enfield and TVS, are active in motorcycle sport in one way or another, Bajaj has no motorsport ambitions. Furthermore, Bajaj’s chairman, managing director and CEO, Rajiv Bajaj, is apparently completely anti-racing, believing that it is a waste of money and resources.

It’s not a new stance; Triumph Motorcycles’ boss from the 1930s through to his retirement in the 1960s, Edward Turner, steadfastly refused to commit to a factory racing programme believing the same thing as Bajaj; that it used up time and money that could be better used to develop motorcycles that would sell to the public. Given Triumph’s financial stature in this period, while rivals Norton enjoyed huge success on the race track but struggled with solvency throughout the same period, you’d have to say Turner’s opinion ultimately was the right one.

Given the level of its investment, Bajaj might well baulk at the 50 million pounds needed every year for the MotoGP project, especially when it is singularly failing to deliver the goods race weekend after race weekend. Throw in an anti-racing boss, and things are looking bleak for KTM’s MotoGP project.

The problem with this is that it erodes confidence throughout the team so that not only do riders start to leave for greener pastures, but so do essential team personnel, thus exacerbating the downward spiral. However, there are also reports that Bajaj sees value in MotoGP participation in the medium term, so maybe things aren’t as bleak as they seem.

That brings us to the travails of the four KTM MotoGP riders in 2025. Brad Binder was particularly vocal about the RC16 after the British GP at Silverstone; finishing 15th, he admitted that “that’s literally my level at present”, complaining of so much instability in the windy conditions that he was having to roll off the throttle on the straights, while the cooler temperatures left him feeling he was going to crash at every corner, as the front medium tyre offered no grip whatsoever.

“That was horrendous. Horrendous,” he said after the race at Silverstone. “I got off to a good start in the first one. Then the second one, I didn’t get a great launch at all. Anyway, I got past a few guys, but it was just so rough. I had so much shaking down the straight and from corner to corner that I kept rolling the gas on the straight, which is never a good thing. So, that was really not ideal. Just missing a lot of confidence, especially from the front.

“I felt fine when I was behind somebody and took a bit of temperature, but as soon as I was alone, I felt like I couldn’t crank the bike over because I felt like the front would wash the whole time. So, not very good for sure, really, really struggled that race. Even going slowly, I had moments where I was lucky not to have crashed. I need to find some confidence, just try and find a little bit of good feeling and try and use it.”

The big question now is, how long can this carry on?

“It’s not ideal for sure,” Binder added. “Don’t get me wrong, I mean f*** me, I know I’m not supposed to be riding in 15th position. But it is what it is, that’s literally my level. I feel like I could go with the boys a bit at the beginning, but then I have these funny moments. The last thing I want is not to finish four races in a row. Then at the end, riding around to my limit, I was having moments as well, and I said, “What the hell am I doing?” So, a little bit tricky. I need to find some confidence again, and I’m sure we’ll figure it out.”

Binder’s teammate, Pedro Acosta, was similarly downbeat.

“It was a race of hopelessness,” he said. “It’s quite sad to see that you try to be perfect in acceleration and pick up the bike and lean angles and try to be close to the others, and then lose everything in acceleration. It’s clear that we don’t have the same amount of grip that the other bikes have.”

Perhaps Acosta has to be patient with the development of the RC16?

“I don’t accept, and I’m not patient. That’s it. Opportunity passes one time in life. I will not take all of my life to be a champion in this championship. I need help from the factory. That’s it.”

After a brilliant rookie year – on a KTM RC16, of course, albeit a satellite team bike – Acosta was obviously hoping for better things with the factory team; “I signed that contract – to come fight for a championship,” he said. “That is clear. To fight and even lose, but to fight for it. But I was talking about this problem from the first day of testing I did on this bike. But it’s still there. The problems are not something new.”

“Maybe this year the lap times are even closer and even faster, and it’s worse for us. Maybe having more brands being competitive is even harder for us. It looks like we are not as good as we thought. And it looks like we need to change things. I read that Yamaha brought a new chassis here. They made it to pole position. And he (Quartararo) was going to win the race…”

One of the KTM riders, however, seems to be coping much better with the wayward KTM. Maverick Viñales took a spectacular second place in Qatar before the position was stripped from him due to a tyre pressure infringement penalty. Then he had the top five races in Spain and France.

It seems he is fast becoming the reference point for the development of the RC16, which suffers in low grip conditions and rear chatter and vibration at the rear. This has become apparent since the introduction of Michelin’s new rear tyre at the beginning of last year. The tyre offers so much grip and this causes vibration, while at the same time overpowering the front tyre, affecting ultimate front-end grip, which brings issues with turning the bike.

These issues are clearly exacerbated by the riders feeling they have to push hard to maintain the pace of their rivals; Binder admitted he’s pushing too much, while Acosta can’t use the hard-braking style that worked so well for him last year because the bike simply doesn’t want to be ridden that way.

As Viñales said, “I had this idea that the KTM should be ridden aggressively. Because I saw Pol (Espargaro, KTM test rider) and Brad be so aggressive on the bike. But when I arrived, I started to ride aggressively, which I like, and I said, “This is not working, it’s not working at all, and I’m slow.” So, I decided to switch and ride smoothly, and it seems to work. But now I need to understand how I can ride smoothly while pushing a lot.”

Do all the KTM riders follow the lead set by Viñales, in terms of adapting their riding style to the bike rather than trying to bend the bike to their will? It seems they might have to if they can turn the RC16 into a competitive package. If that happens, then the chances of Acosta and Binder wanting to remain at KTM beyond the end of 2026, when both their contracts will be up for renewal, will be improved immeasurably.

It was perhaps appropriate that, on the weekend of the most boring (if not the most picturesque) F1 Grand Prix of the year, Monaco, we also had a MotoGP race full of drama and fantastic racing at the circuit that hosted the very first post-war F1 Grand Prix in 1950, Silverstone.

Anyone who was at Silverstone for that first Grand Prix would struggle to recognise the place today; certain parts remain the same, but it has undergone significant changes over the years. Thankfully, the basic ingredients that made it one of the better racing circuits in the world have been retained – a fast, wide, sweeping layout, rewarding both power and agility that invariably produces great racing.

After Ducati’s winning streak was, at last, brought to an end in Le Mans thanks to a brilliant ride by Johann Zarco on his Honda RC213V, we could have been forgiven for assuming that normal service would be resumed at Silverstone; a circuit where you could reasonably expect the Bologna Bullets to thrive given their power advantage. But no one could have predicted the outcome of a fantastic race, one in which Ducati played a very subdued part.

The first shock was yet another unbelievable pole lap by Fabio Quartararo and his Yamaha, his third in a row. The Yamaha might be down on power but if its riders can run the lines they like – long, sweeping lines as opposed to the Ducatis that can dive into the corner, stop and turn and punch out of them, a movement that upsets the following Yamahas – then, as Quartararo showed in qualifying and the Main race, they can be untouchable.

The other factor was that the Yamahas were running the soft front tyre, giving them an early race advantage (although no one knew if they would last the race distance at that pace), while the Ducatis didn’t look happy on any front tyre, especially not the medium front they chose to run on.

If the Sprint race conformed to expected practice, with a fine win for Alex Marquez, followed by Marc Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio to complete yet another all-Ducati podium, the top ten looked distinctly varied, with Aprilia, Honda, Yamaha and KTM all represented.

This was but a taste of what was to come the next day in the Main race. At the start, Marc Marquez showed his intent and led into the first corner, while brother Alex sensationally slid ignominiously out of the race before he had even negotiated that corner. This was huge for the Championship, especially as Bagnaia was sitting in third behind Quartararo, but such is the lack of confidence Bagnaia has in his GP25 that it seemed almost impossible that he would feature in the race. What a change from last season.

Then it happened! Marc Marquez lost the front at the Becketts complex and, all of a sudden, perhaps Bagnaia could gain valuable points on his title rivals. But out came the red flags to stop the race, the reason given that there was oil on the track, not where Marc Marquez had crashed, but where Franco Morbidelli and Aleix Espargaro had crashed at the last chicane at the end of the first lap. As less than three laps had been completed, the race would be restarted with all riders eligible to form up on the grid, including both Marquez brothers! Talk about luck being on their side.

At the restart, Bagnaia got the hole shot but Quartararo was past into the lead by turn three, while Marc got past his brother at turn four, as did Jack Miller; the Yamahas have definitely improved, a point proven by Quartararo as he simply disappeared at the front, while Miller got by Marc for third place and then Bagnaia for second, the latter then overtaken first by Johann Zarco and then by Marc Marquez.

It was definitely not Ducati’s day as both the factory bikes then ran wide at Copse, and re-joined in ninth and tenth, Marquez still ahead of his team mate. But Bagnaia was looking in real trouble as he was clearly struggling with grip and, inevitably, he slid out and his miserable season continued.

By this time, Quartararo was 4.5 seconds up the road, and it was looking unlikely that anyone would be able to do anything about him. For Yamaha to find its form again in 2025 would be hugely appropriate as this year marks the 50th anniversary of the manufacturer’s first premier class world title (then for 500 cc-engined bikes, all of which were two strokes) back in 1975, courtesy of Giacomo Agostini.

Almost unnoticed in all the excitement was the fact that Marco Bezzecchi on the Aprilia was lying third behind Quartararo and Miller, with Zarco fourth, Alex Marquez fifth, Morbidelli sixth, Mir seventh and Marc Marquez eighth. Bezzecchi and Zarco got past Miller, and now we had a race on as, even with a five-second deficit to make up, Bezzecchi looked as if he had the speed to catch up to Quartararo, while Marc Marquez was making progress up to fourth.

Then Yamaha managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as the rear ride-height device on Quartararo’s bike stuck in the lowered position and he had no choice but to retire the bike, leaving the Frenchman distraught; he really didn’t deserve that. When the emotion subsides, he will realise that there is nothing but positives to take from Silverstone, but the pain will never fully disappear.

And that, to all intents and purposes, was that. Bezzecchi was out front by 4.5 seconds, and Zarco led Marc Marquez by just over a second, and he in turn was having to defend from Morbidelli behind. Indeed, into the last lap, Morbidelli was right on Marquez’ tail and, coming into the final chicane on the last lap at Vale, Morbidelli got past Marquez, only to run slightly wide and allow Marquez back through and cross the line half a bike’s length ahead. But neither of them could do anything about Zarco, who took a well-deserved second place just two weeks after his Le Mans victory.

Honda, Yamaha and Aprilia back in the mix for victories? That’s going to spice things up nicely. It’s hard not to think of 2025 as another Ducati walkover, but perhaps they won’t have it all their own way?

The day belonged to Bezzecchi and Aprilia, however, and what perfect timing it was, with the news leading up to the British Grand Prix being dominated by the continuing Jorge Martin/Aprilia, will-he-leave/will-he-stay saga. You knew the team realised this was a pivotal moment as they not-so-subtly pointed out that the RS-GP was a winning machine, a message clearly directed at Martin; “This is a message to Jorge. Our bike can win,” team boss Massimo Rivola said.

“I think the best way we can do it is to show that we have a fast bike.” Mind you, if the reports about Martin’s desire to activate the get-out clause so early in the season are true, without having had the chance to see for himself what the Aprilia can do, would it be once bitten, twice shy for Aprilia to put their faith in the reigning world champion heading into 2026? Also, surely any other team would be wary?

So, a victory for Aprilia at a circuit that has been good for them in the 2020s, which might mean that it is a flash in the pan, but it’s encouraging nonetheless. But what about KTM? Pedro Acosta finished an anonymous sixth, with Maverick Viñales four seconds behind in eleventh, Brad Binder five seconds behind Miller in 14th and Enea Bastiannini a ridiculous 48 seconds behind Acosta in 17th. In a week when news came through of a huge bailout of KTM by Bajaj, all but securing the future of the Austrian company, these dire performances will not help the race team’s prospects.

It’s back to Spain in two weeks’ time for the Aragon MotoGP round, the eighth of the season, and the championship is really coming alive. Surely Quartararo’s forward progress will net him a win soon, while both Zarco and Bezzecchi have proved that we can’t afford to count them out when things fall into place for them and their teams. Will it be enough to deny Ducati title glory? Maybe not this year, but then again, stranger things have happened.

Winning any MotoGP race is special; you are one of the elite few to have achieved it, relative to how many have tried. For a brief moment, you are on top of the world, but racing is about nothing but looking forward, and, all too soon, thoughts turn to the next race.

However, Johann Zarco and the LCR Honda team may take a bit longer to get over the euphoria of winning their home race. Zarco is the first Frenchman to win at home since Pierre Monneret, riding a Gilera, won the French Grand Prix at the Reims street circuit in 1954.

Add to this the fact that the weekend at Le Mans broke the record for attendance at any MotoGP race in the world, with well over 300,000 making the pilgrimage over the weekend, and 110,000 witnessing the victory on race day. You have the recipe for the creation of a new national hero, not to mention a strong contender for race of the century so far. That’s surely worth an extended celebration?

At one point, it looked as if Fabio Quartararo was the rider most likely to become the new national hero, as he was leading by the end of the first lap and quickly built a lead of one second, but the conditions that Zarco mastered so well caught Quartararo out on lap four as he was running second to Marc Marquez and down he went, closely followed by Brad Binder, the intensifying rain catching them out on a notoriously slippery corner.

The word “chaotic” has been widely used to describe the beginning of the French GP, but even that word hardly does justice to what was going on.

Every rider went to the grid on bikes set up and tyres for the dry, despite the fact that the track was still damp after intermittent showers. Cue every rider diving into the pits at the end of the warm-up lap to change bikes, forcing a restart.

Upon leaving the pits for the second formation lap, the majority then realised that perhaps it wasn’t wet enough for rain tyres and came into the pits at the end of the formation lap to swap bikes back to a dry set-up. As the second warm-up lap commenced, all those who had come in to the pits, which was about two-thirds of the grid, including Quartararo and Marc Marquez, set off from pit lane and were able to take up their original positions on the grid, but they would all have to serve a double long-lap penalty for coming into pit lane when it was closed.

Finally, the lights went out and the race was underway, but it didn’t last long for Bagnaia, who was caught up in Bastiannini’s incident at the first chicane. Bagnaia re-mounted but would endure a no-points weekend for the first time in years, and effectively put himself out of championship contention, although 2023 showed that overturning a large points deficit is not impossible. Bagnaia cuts a dejected figure at the moment; his inability to mould the Ducati GP25 into a machine that he can use as he likes is giving his confidence a good old kicking, and it’s not getting any better.

More importantly for the story of the French GP was the fact that Zarco, who had remained on wet tyres and therefore had no penalties to serve, was also forced off-track at the chicane on the first lap by the Bagnaia/Bastiannini incident but kept it upright through the gravel trap and re-joined in 17th.

At this point, Quartararo was making hay at the front, leading by a second from the Marquez brothers, all three riders, among many, having to take double long-lap penalties. Then Quartararo lost it at the final corner, followed closely by Binder, so Marc Marquez now led, but not for long as he took his second long-lap penalty and now Aldeguer was leading from the Marquez brothers. It was actually impossible to keep track of who was running where for the first six or seven laps, what with crashes, long lap penalties being taken and pitting for different bikes.

It was clearly too wet for slicks, and the Marquez brothers both dived into the pits to change bikes. All this time, Zarco was keeping his head cool and trying not to burn up his wet tyres, running in fifth. The top six looked very different to normal at this point; Aldeguer leading, with DiGiannantonio, Savadori, Ogura, Zarco and Oliveira close behind.

By lap eight, Zarco was leading! Where did that come from? Well, we know where it came from: the right and well-informed tyre choice, combined with weather that creates a level playing field, negating the advantages of the Ducatis and masking the deficiencies of the Hondas, combined with multiple penalties and pit stops for everyone but one rider. Luck and skill combined.

From that point on, Zarco simply rode away from everyone, not least of all Marc Marquez, who emerged from the pits around eight seconds behind the Frenchman and who proceeded to drop further and further back, finishing a frankly unbelievable 19 seconds behind at the flag.

More importantly for Marc, his brother suffered a nasty high-side and was out, so with both his closest championship rivals out of the way, Marquez was certain to leave Le Mans with a healthy points lead, which turned out to be 22 points ahead of his brother and a huge 51 points ahead of Bagnaia.

This was an extremely mature ride from Marquez, for once playing the points game. He admitted that, without the Jerez crash two weeks ago, he might have pushed too hard and fallen foul of the conditions in France like so many of his rivals, but he kept a cool head and reaped the reward.

None of which should detract from Zarco’s achievement. This was a spectacularly impressive ride in the worst conditions possible; certainly not dry but, for much of the race, not really wet, either, just greasy and slippery with very little idea of where the limit of adhesion lay; a point proven by the number of crashes behind him.

Championship material he may not be – at least on the Honda as it stands at the moment – but Zarco’s was a hugely popular victory up and down the pit lane and, of course, the vast partisan crowd around the circuit went absolutely mad! It was enough to bring a small lump to the throat.

How appropriate also that Ducati’s winning streak of 22 consecutive victories was brought to a halt by a Honda rider; after all, it was Honda’s record of consecutive wins that Ducati was about to break had the Italian manufacturer won in France!

Another good thing about a wet race is that there was no tyre pressure rule to mess things up. One of the most respected journalists in the pit lane, Mat Oxley, wrote about the rule in his latest piece in Motor Sport magazine and came up with some very good arguments against the rule, and also a much more sensible penalty scheme.

His point was that choosing the right tyre pressure before a race needs a crystal ball and the ability to see into the future, and that getting it wrong, i.e., running at too low a pressure for too long in a race, was in no way cheating; it was just a gamble that didn’t pay off; a guess, in other words. In a sport with such extensive and tight rules, this is an important difference.

With that being the case, awarding a time penalty is unfair as it naturally promotes riders behind the offending rider into potentially better points-paying positions, but it also penalises those who finish ahead of the offending rider by having rivals close the points gap through no effort of their own, which could have huge implications at the end of a season.

A better way of penalising the rider would be to give him a points penalty, so that he is the only one who is affected. He retains the position in which he finishes the race, and this also avoids the situation whereby one rider takes the podium plaudits only to have the position later stripped from him, and the rider who should have been on the podium misses out. It was an interesting idea, and one can only hope the powers-that-be in MotoGP are taking notice.

There was another bombshell immediately after the race concerning Jorge Martin. A Spanish-language edition of www.motorsport.com claimed that Martin wants to activate a get-out clause in his contract to leave Aprilia to join Honda in 2026. The clause states that, if he (Martin) is not amongst the championship contenders by the time of the French GP, he is open to accepting offers from rival manufacturers for 2026 with no penalty for breaking his Aprilia contract early.

The only problem with this is that Martin has completed only a single race in 2025, so there is no chance of him being in a championship position; therefore, does the clause stand? Word is that Aprilia intends to legally block the clause being activated, but to what end? If Martin doesn’t want to be with Aprilia, what’s the point in trying to make him stay? Of course, he has no real idea how good the Aprilia could be through his input, so to want to leave could be jumping the gun, if the rumours are indeed true.

Don’t forget, also, that his great friend Aleix Espargaro is now a Honda test rider. Espargaro was undoubtedly a strong influence in getting Martin to sign for Aprilia after the Ducati factory snub during 2024, so a move to the factory Honda to work with him is clearly tempting to Martin. Espargaro has inside knowledge of where Honda is going, from right now to the change in rules for 2027 and beyond, and you can be sure that his opinion matters to Martin. Maybe Martin knows something we don’t know?

Espargaro is an excellent test and development rider, perhaps Martin isn’t, but the combination of the two could be devastating, provided Honda will listen to them; listening to riders hasn’t always been their strong point.

It’s all hotting up nicely and we’re off to Great Britain next. It’s not always a dry race, so who’s to say that Honda or Yamaha could spring a surprise? It’s also a very fast circuit, which will suit the Ducatis if it’s dry. Any bets?

There are so many talking points from Jerez, the Marquez brothers providing some, while being overshadowed by an amazing performance from Fabio Quartararo and another lacklustre one from Pecco Bagnaia.

If the Sprint race went the way they all have so far this season, with a Marc Marquez easy victory, the Main race showed that the only person who can take the title from Marc is Marc himself. That’s two unforced errors so far – America was the first, both with huge point consequences.

He could get away with the errors if there was no consistent challenge behind him, but with both his brother and Bagnaia snapping at his heels at every race, these are mistakes he just can’t afford to make. Luckily, both times, he has escaped uninjured, but he, more than anyone, knows how to properly derail a season through injury. He bounced back once from a serious injury, but it took him a few years. He can’t afford to do that again.

Revelation of the weekend has to be Fabio Quartararo; it was a case of “where the hell did that come from” when he took pole position with a new lap record, beating Marc Marquez to the post, which hasn’t happened this year. Marc was no doubt going to lose his pole streak at some point this year, but few would have bet that it would be to a Yamaha.

But it happened, and in the Sprint race, Quartararo duly took the lead, only to throw it down the road at the beginning of lap two.

In the Main race, not only did Quartararo lead off the line but also held the lead for 10 laps before succumbing to an inspired Alex Marquez, who sensed that this was his day after brother Marc crashed. Quartararo’s disappointment at losing the lead would have been tempered by the fact that he then proceeded to keep Bagnaia behind him to the flag. I doubt there’s a crystal ball anywhere in the world that would have predicted that!

As if to back up the result, both Yamaha riders then professed great satisfaction with a revised engine in the post-race test at the same circuit on Monday, claiming a faster top speed with no loss of sweetness of handling. Now, wouldn’t that be something if the biggest challenge to Ducati dominance this year came from Yamaha?

Marc Marquez’s crash was nothing but carelessness on both his and Ducati’s part. Everyone understands that following other riders closely plays havoc with front tyre temperature, changing the profile of the tyre as the pressure increases and, therefore, reducing grip. At Jerez, it seems to be more of a problem than at some other circuits, and Ducati should have known this. So should Marc. By his own admission, he wasn’t pushing when the accident happened, saving his tyres for the end of the race, but, crucially, he was behind other riders for the first time that weekend, and he was caught out, as simple as that.

We are used to Bagnaia complaining that the smaller fuel tank used for the Sprint races hampers his ability to make the bike do what he wants it to. It does rather beg the question (after he has been complaining about it for the whole time there have been Sprint races), why haven’t Ducati and Bagnaia got to grips with that yet? It almost beggars belief. If he doesn’t like the smaller tank, why not fit the larger tank and half fill it? Or maybe it’s not that simple?

There’s also something going on in the Main races as well for the two-time world champion and, after the Spanish race he was complaining of low front end grip, especially when following other riders, which is something he wasn’t suffering on the GP24 last year, which is the bike Alex Marquez is using this year to great effect. He admits that he needs a strong and predictable front end, which he simply hasn’t got this year, and it’s hurting him in the races.

Overshadowing all this was the victor; what a ride that was by Marquez the Younger! He’s had a torrid time in MotoGP since being promoted in 2020, riding a Honda RC213V, after winning Moto3 and Moto2 titles. In 2023, he joined the Gresini team and immediately gelled with the Ducati, taking two podiums and two Sprint wins, although 2024 wasn’t a great year, despite being on the same machinery as brother Marc – a Ducati GP23.

Now on a GP24, he’s clearly a lot happier, and it’s showing in the results; nine podiums from ten races so far this year, including his first MotoGP win. He’s a serious championship contender, if consistency is anything to go by, and if he can be there to pick up the pieces when the factory Ducatis get it wrong, then a tilt at the title is not so far-fetched.

If the Spanish crowd was there to witness another Marc Marquez victory, then they got what was second-best by only a tiny margin; what a way to chalk up your first win, in front of an adoring home crowd. Watch Alex’s confidence surge with that adulation still ringing in his ears.

All the noise at the front of the race drowned out what was happening behind, which was, predictably, KTM, Aprilia, Honda and some Ducatis slugging it out for crumbs.

For the second race in a row, Maverick Viñales was the leading KTM, running a strong fourth throughout the Main race, after finishing seventh in the Sprint, again the leading KTM. There’s nothing suspicious about this; it’s merely the right rider on the right bike. Viñales is clearly much more comfortable with how the RC16 is working than either Binder or Acosta, and he’s using this advantage to the maximum.

In the post-race test, Binder sounded much happier with the bike, after trying several new ideas which improved his edge grip on corners and therefore the drive out of the corners. The RC16 is undeniably fast in a straight line, but that can’t be taken advantage of if drive out of the corners is compromised. It seems as if the first in-season test has come at just the right time for all of the teams, even if holding at a track where there has just been a race weekend meant that the track was unusually grippy from all the rubber laid down, perhaps skewing the progress apparently made.

So, we head to Le Mans in two weeks with a lot of riders and teams feeling a lot better about their chances after either a good Grand Prix or a good test; Alex Marquez, Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Viñales, Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta on the one hand and KTM and Yamaha on the other. All we need now is for Aprilia to get their house in order, and we could be in for a cracker of a season and, hopefully, more competition for the Marquez brothers.