Ducati bikes won all but two MotoGP races during the 2024 season. Their factory-spec machinery led the way in 16 out of 20 events.
In the constructors’, Ducati scored well over double the points of their nearest challenger KTM (722 vs 327). While Jorge Martin won the title at Pramac, the factory team still finished top of the teams’ standings by more than 200 points.
In short, their cushion was so great that they didn’t need to sign an all-time great like Marc Marquez. They could have promoted Martin to the factory team instead.
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But in the end, they snubbed the world champion, who duly left to join Aprilia. The combination of Marquez and an up-to-date Desmosedici has delivered predictable results – eight wins from the first 12 races, with the championship a formality.
Ducati were wary of Marc Marquez ‘sneaking’ a championship with another team
Marquez is regarded as a rider who can take bikes to places where they don’t belong. When he romped to the title in 2019, the next-best Honda (Jorge Lorenzo) finished 19th in the standings.
The year before, teammate Dani Pedrosa was only 11th as Marquez took championship number five. Even last year, he challenged Martin and Francesco Bagnaia on a considerably inferior GP23.
According to The Race’s Simon Patterson, Ducati’s move for Marquez was a defensive measure. If they lost him – and he said he wouldn’t accept a satellite ride for 2025 – they were wary that he could beat them on a rival bike.
Ducati bikes have taken 29 of a possible 36 podiums, but there has been progress from their rivals. Aprilia won the British GP with Marco Bezzecchi, who is now up to fourth in the riders’ standings.
“The only reason to hire Marc this year for Ducati was to make sure he didn’t sneak a championship with someone else,” Patterson explained.
“That’s the only reason it happened this year. They don’t need him.”
There has been speculation that Marquez could rejoin Honda one day, but HRC’s Alberto Puig has played that down. He says it would be ‘complicated’ to strike a deal.
One might assume that finances are a barrier to signing a superstar rider. However, Marquez told Ducati they could determine his salary because winning was his priority.
The expectation was that he’d go head-to-head with Bagnaia for the title, potentially forming another great rivalry. But the two-time world champion has been unable to keep up, falling a whopping 168 points behind.
Marquez gave positive feedback on the GP25 in testing, while Bagnaia was unconvinced. The Italian was far more comfortable with last year’s package, but his teammate encouraged Ducati to pursue their new philosophy.
Bagnaia has been complaining about a lack of ‘feeling’ on the motorcycle ever since.