If it takes a champion to know a champion, then Marc Marquez won’t care who his 2027 MotoGP team-mate will be.
That’s the opinion of five-time 500cc title winner Mick Doohan, when asked about Pedro Acosta’s expected move alongside Marquez at the factory Ducati team.
“There hasn’t been an official announcement, and I can’t comment on rumours, but I can say that, as a rider, whether in my era or Marc Marquez’s, Marc is focused on himself,” Doohan told Marca.com.
Doohan added that it is natural for manufacturers to target the strongest rider line-ups, while champions must beat everyone on the grid.
“To win a race or the World Championship, you have to beat everyone, including your team-mate. The best riders don’t care who their team-mate is,” he said.
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“The same is true in F1; Verstappen isn’t worried about who his team-mate is.
“The [incoming] team-mate is the one who has to worry more about winning than the one who is already established.”
Marquez insists he doesn’t interfere in the selection of his team-mate and was previously paired with fellow MotoGP champions Jorge Lorenzo and Joan Mir at Repsol Honda.
Roles were then reversed when Marquez entered the factory Ducati team alongside former double champion Pecco Bagnaia.
But like Lorenzo and Mir, Bagnaia hasn’t been able to threaten Marquez on the same machinery.
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If the expected Marquez-Acosta pairing materialises, Doohan expects a close contest between two riders at very different stages of their careers.
“Acosta has incredible talent. What he’s doing with the KTM is amazing. It will be difficult for both of them. They’re both Spanish and incredibly talented,” he said.
“Marc won’t be young anymore, and you have the young guy gaining experience who’s incredibly fast and wants to beat the old guy, which is Marc.
“Similarly, Marc doesn’t want to be beaten by the young guy.
“But if [Acosta] becomes a Ducati rider… that wouldn’t matter. If Bezzecchi got on that bike, it would be the same,” Doohan reiterated.
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Acosta holds third in the world championship, with reigning nine-time champion Marquez fifth after Ducati’s tougher-than-expected start to 2026.
Bagnaia is tipped to join Aprilia alongside current title leader Marco Bezzecchi.
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