Alex Marquez says he has \u201cmore security\u201d for MotoGP 2026 now he has a factory bike but has put the onus on Ducati to find performance improvements.<\/p>\n
Marquez finished second in a Ducati 1-2 at the top of the championship last year, winning three races. Only his brother, Ducati Lenovo\u2019s Marc Marquez<\/a>, beat the #73 in the championship, the older sibling winning 11 grands prix, 14 Sprints, and clinching the title with five rounds remaining.<\/p>\n For the younger brother, his second-place run in the 2025 season was enough to earn him a factory bike for 2026, something he says gives him \u201cmore security\u201d for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n \u201cIt gives to me especially more security, more maturity to approach things, but especially because we have all the ingredients to cook our things slowly and we will have all that we will have from Ducati to have performance,\u201d Alex Marquez<\/a> told MotoGP.com during the Gresini Ducati team launch<\/a> in Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n He added, though, that the emphasis is on Ducati this year to improve the performance of the Desmosedici GP in the final year of the current 1,000cc regulations after KTM, Honda, and especially Aprilia all made progress in the second half of 2025, the latter winning three out of the last four races.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n \u201cWe will try to help, but especially it\u2019s Ducati that need to make the job to improve a little bit more the bike,\u201d Marquez said, \u201cbecause some manufacturers in the last races of last year were coming closer and closer.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo, we will try this preseason to try the new things that Ducati will bring to us and try to make the bike stronger and stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n Marquez went on to reaffirm, though, that he has \u201cconfidence\u201d in Ducati to make progress with its MotoGP bike this year.<\/p>\n \u201cIt will be interesting because last year especially Aprilia and KTM were quite close in the end; they were coming and were making some steps \u2013 also the riders, not just the manufacturers, […] Bezzecchi and Acosta made some steps and they were quite close,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cBut especially I think it will be a really interesting year to see what the manufacturers make for the last season of these rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it will be quite interesting, but I have the confidence that Ducati will make some steps, they already did some this winter and the bike will be more competitive, more complete, and in the points that we suffered a little bit more it will be even stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n