ALEX MARQUEZ SAYS HE HAD “ZERO FUN” AS DUCATI STRUGGLES WITH REAR GRIP IN AUSTRIA

Alex Marquez was blunt about how the Ducati package felt at the Red Bull Ring, admitting the Austrian MotoGP weekend has brought him “zero fun” as the team continues to struggle with rear grip.

The Gresini rider salvaged a fifth-place finish in Saturday’s Sprint, ending the race as the second-best Ducati behind his older brother and Sprint runner-up Marc Marquez. While that result kept him in the fight, Alex said it was also his worst showing since crashing at the German Grand Prix in July, with the same underlying issue resurfacing: Ducati’s difficulty finding traction on the harder-construction tyre.

Marquez pointed to the tyre as part of the problem, noting that the field is on the same rubber but that the sensation remains hard to understand and manage. “Suffering is the word of our weekend,” he said. “Suffering and difficult to understand things, but the feeling is similar to what we had already at the beginning of the season in Thailand.”

He added that the Sprint was used to make changes in an attempt to improve the bike’s behaviour, but the grip problem did not disappear. “We have the same tyres, so it looks like that is not helping us too much. We need to keep working. We are finding a few things step-by-step, but not enough to be with the Aprilias especially, and the KTM of Pedro.”

According to Marquez, the team tried to adjust both setup and aerodynamic elements during the Sprint. “We used the Sprint to change a little bit the setup and aerodynamic things. It was working a little bit better, but not enough, so the grip problem is still there.”

Beyond the circuit itself, Alex suggested the gap to rivals is tied to how different machines put power to the tyre—particularly when the tyre construction makes traction harder to access. He believes Aprilia’s approach allows it to carry more corner speed, reducing the bike’s reliance on rear grip when conditions are worse. “More than the circuit, I think it's about this casing, how [Aprilia] put the power on and how they transfer the power to the tyre,” he explained.

Marquez also described how the Ducati’s character can become more stop-and-go when grip is reduced, forcing him to depend more on rear traction. “Looks like maybe we have a bike that is more stop-and-go, so we depend more on having good rear grip. And [Aprilia] can carry more speed on the apex, and be a little bit smoother on the throttle.”

He said the team is working on a solution that they expect to matter again soon, referencing the next rounds where a similar tyre casing will be used. “Different bikes, but we are trying to solve this problem because this casing we'll have again in Malaysia, I think. Indonesia is a little bit different, but also very similar.”

When asked how enjoyable the riding has been, Marquez’s answer reflected the frustration. “Zero! And I feel so bad on the bike. Like, okay, I was speaking with myself today, in the qualifying: I said, ‘Do you know how to ride or what, Alex?’ You know?”

He said the difficulty is not only physical but also mental, because the bike only feels enjoyable when he is fast enough to match the pace. “It’s difficult to understand and difficult to enjoy like this. I mean, on the bike, you only just enjoy when you are fast. When somebody is faster than you, then you suffer. So [most] of time you are suffering!”

Adding to the challenge, Marquez’s weekend was disrupted by two separate fast practice crashes. Despite that interruption, he still managed to convert the Sprint into a top-five result.

His teammate Fermin Aldeguer, who had been on the podium in Austria last season, finished eighth in the Sprint, as the Gresini team continued to search for the traction improvements needed to close the gap to the Aprilias and KTM.