ALEX AND MARC MARQUEZ REACT AFTER SILVERSTONE: A MISTAKE AND ADAPTING TO APRILIA’S PACE

Silverstone delivered a clear message about the current MotoGP pecking order: Aprilia looked dominant throughout the weekend, while Ducati’s riders had to work harder for every position. In the Grand Prix, Alex Marquez finished fourth and still emerged as the leading Ducati representative, but he admitted the result could have been better. His brother Marc Marquez crossed the line seventh, accepting the outcome as a mix of track characteristics and his own limitations.

Alex Marquez’s race began with intent. Early on, he moved past championship contender Ai Ogura and also got by his brother Marc. From there, he set his sights on Pedro Acosta, and for a portion of the 20-lap contest he was able to match the pace of the Aprilia riders. Speedweek reported that he was the only Ducati rider who could keep up with the Aprilia tempo during one key phase of the race.

Around the halfway point, Marquez passed Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi, but a mistake soon erased that advantage. The Ducati rider said he believed he had the potential to fight for second place, explaining that the time loss came from an error in Turn 1 after his move on Bezzecchi. “I think, we could have fought for P2 today. But the mistake in Turn 1 after the maneuver against Bezzecchi cost a lot of time. I was a bit too optimistic; we touched,” Marquez said.

He then described how the incident affected the bike’s behavior. After the slip-up, he noticed the first drop-off in rear grip. “After this blunder in Turn 1, I also felt the first loss of grip on the rear tire. At that moment I had some instability in the rear, but I tried to stay calm. I saw that I was faster than Pedro. With all that power, the bikes often make strange movements. I got back into contention. But then the grip drop was clearly there. Unfortunately, I missed the braking point a bit in the duel against Marco—that’s on me,” he added.

Marquez also gave credit where it was due to Bezzecchi. “Marco apparently played his cards well. For the last two laps he managed the rear tire better. He was smarter than us—he didn’t overrun the bike. In Turn 15 I was never close enough to Marco. The seventh-place grid slot also limited us. Except with Raul, I think we could have matched the other Aprilia riders,” he said.

Despite the disappointment, Marquez pointed to a personal advantage at Silverstone: tire conservation. He compared the circuit to Barcelona, saying he can protect the rear tire in the early corners. “The faster the corners are, the better I can conserve the tire. That’s always been my big advantage,” he stated.

Marc Marquez, meanwhile, framed the weekend through the lens of track suitability. Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi had already suggested that some circuits suit Aprilia more than Ducati, and Marc accepted that reality. After finishing seventh—9.55 seconds behind winner Raul Fernandez—Marc said the bike and tires had worked well, but the result was still constrained by what he could extract. “The bike and the tires worked well. I wasn’t able to do better; P7 is as expected. The top five was optimistic—we would have had to get everything spot on,” he said.

Marc also addressed why Ducati’s overall pace was harder to translate into results for him personally. He noted that Alex was faster at Silverstone even though they run the same machine. “It was on me. I have to ride what I have and make it work. Last year, when I was in top form, Alex was faster here than me. He rides here really well and is better than us—we have the same bike,” Marc said.

In addition to performance, Marc referenced his recent shoulder injury. He said he still cannot ride exactly as he wants, and that the issue becomes more noticeable as the race goes on. However, he did see signs of improvement. “For the first time I could ride well in qualifying,” he noted. “But endurance is still missing.”

Marc stressed that his approach depends on realistic goals and avoiding unnecessary risk. “Everything depends on the targets. My goals are to enjoy riding the bike. Of course I want to be world champion; but if not, it doesn’t change my future life. My ambitions and how I approach a race weekend are the same as always. But I have to see things realistically and I don’t want to take risks. On Saturday I had problems with the rear tire, I ended up ninth and couldn’t fight with the others—so that’s how it is. If I feel good, I’ll fight. If not, I’ll try to stay on the bike,” he said.

With the points from Silverstone, Marc Marquez remained fourth in the championship standings with 200 points, sitting 40 behind Jorge Martin, who won the Sprint and finished second in the Grand Prix. For Ducati, Silverstone ended with mixed emotions: Alex Marquez’s fourth place and tire-management positives contrasted with the clear gap to Aprilia’s dominant form, while Marc Marquez’s seventh reflected both the track’s demands and his ongoing recovery and endurance limits.

Elsewhere on the grid, Luca Marini produced Honda’s best result of the race, finishing ninth. He had started from 15th and, despite losing positions in the early corners, fought back with multiple overtakes. “Nein, überhaupt nicht. Es war wie in den vergangenen Jahren. Man musste den Reifen ein wenig managen, aber es war kein Drama,” Marini said, adding that he was pleased with how he managed fuel and tires and with the passing moves he managed to execute. He also admitted his start was “really bad,” losing many places in the first two corners before recovering.

Marini’s comments underlined the scale of the challenge Honda faces: “Mehr als eine Sekunde pro Runde auf Aprilia zu verlieren, ist unglaublich. Der Rückstand ist wirklich gewaltig.” He also pointed to a key area for improvement—qualifying—saying that on Sundays he typically delivers his best performance, but starting from 15th or 16th makes everything complicated. He described a persistent rear grip conflict: when Honda tries to find more traction, the bike becomes nervous on corner exit, the traction control intervenes strongly, and he loses time.

Marini also noted that the team has effectively reached a stopping point with experimentation on the current 1000 project, with the focus shifting to the 850 for next season, while he continues working on his own performance. After Silverstone, he remained the best-placed Honda rider in the championship in 10th.