It’s time to take stock. Like every year for three years, Let's talk MotoGP is embarking on a fairly important undertaking: taking stock of each driver at the end of the 2024 season, today, Alex Marquez's turn. For a good part of the winter, we will go back through the rankings in reverse, to the point of talking in detail about the world champion's campaign. Are you ready? Here we go!
Yesterday, we returned to the case of Franco Morbidelli; click here to find the corresponding article.
Mute
Since I started this retrospective, I don't think I've ever had to rack my brain as much as to talk about Alex Marquez. Concretely, we only saw it once. Marc's little brother continues to go through his MotoGP epic without leaving the slightest trace. Unfortunately, we talk more about his blunders than his performances. Apart from this, I found his season disappointing.like the one before, and like the one before, and like the one before…
It's difficult to exist next to an eight-time world champion… even for your brother. Photo: Gresini Racing
First, let's look at the results. Alex Marquez concludes this exercise in eighth place in the general classification, with
173 points on the clock. It's pretty well paid, let me explain. Behind him, Franco Morbidelli, also 173 units, who had to make up a huge gap at the start after suffering an accident during the pre-season. Then, one row later,
Fabio Di Giannantoniowho missed three races including the last two, while he had the bike in hand. Being realistic, and, I believe, fairly objective, Alex Marquez is closer to 10th place.
Now he had a great German Grand Prix. His only podium of the year, on the Sachsenring, was shared with his brother for a beautiful moment in history. There's nothing to complain about, it was a good race on his part… but nothing exceptional either and without Martin's fall, he wouldn't have had access to the box. Last year, he started from pole in Argentina, even won two Sprints, in addition to making two podiums. Yes, his bike was less efficient compared to the best Ducati. It's a fact. But then, what can we say about it? That doesn't make it a successful season though.
A big difference
His case is quite special because I have the strong impression that many people are wrong about him. Alex Marquez, even if he benefited from good conditions during his epic journey to MotoGP,
is still a double Moto3/Moto2 world champion. And each time, he made a great champion, forced to fight against formidable pilots. As a reminder, only four other drivers have done the small category/intermediate category double in the 21st century:
Dani Pedrosa, Manuel Poggiali, his brother Marc, and Pedro Acosta.
From then on, I have always expected a lot from him, and perhaps I am still too demanding of him, but I have the impression that he is not breaking through, that he is stagnating, in short. At 28, he is no longer young, and he completed his fifth season at the highest level in Barcelona. He's not bad, far from it, and, by extension, his year wasn't a failure. We can recognize his solidity in Sprints, facilitated by this fairly impressive projection capacity – but problematic, we will talk about it again. When it comes time to take stock, I find that it's poor for a driver with such a track record and such talent. He rarely makes a strong impression; he disappoints rather than convinces. I don't believe, for example, that I have seen him progress on all points since his arrival at Ducati Gresini. In my opinion, Alex Marquez embodies the weakling of the general classification. On Honda or Ducati, it is never execrable, but never excellent either. He's right there.
He is still ahead of Bezzecchi, which is not bad. Photo: Gresini Racing
A major flaw
That said, we still have to talk about his skirmishes. I believe that in two years – that is to say, since he played more interesting places than P15 – all the drivers have complained about him, at one time or another. Very excited in the first laps, Alex Marquez does not want to waste time and often hangs on. He has four retirements from Sunday races in 2024 – about average – but was the third driver most often on the ground overall, with 21 achievements. It's too much, especially for his speed.
This was seen in Aragon on Sunday, when he hooked up with Pecco Bagnaia. As a reminder, I ruled 50/50 at the time, but again, there was contact with Alex Marquez. It is still often the common denominator. And then, the majority of the pilots blamed him for the fall, but none really seemed surprised that he was involved! Many had cut it out in the press; I still think about those harsh comments from Marco Bezzecchi the day after the Grand Prix.
A mistake can happen, it would be dishonest to take it into account. But we must recognize that this is often how it happens; remember Le Mans 2023 at the Chapelle bend, remember the collision with Aleix Espargaro, with Joan Mir and Bezzecchi (definitely) in Japan this season… in short, he needs to calm down, because when the results don't follow, it's a task.
Conclusion
Non-existent alongside his brother Marc under the Gresini awning, Alex Marquez has come through this year. The time when we could still hope to see a young, fresh and impactful driver evolve seems to be over; except perhaps for the percussiona field in which it excels, to the great dismay of its direct competitors.
Am I being too hard on Alex Marquez? Tell me in the comments!
As a reminder, this article only reflects the thoughts of its author, and not of the entire editorial team.
He still secured his handlebars at Gresini next year. Photo: Gresini Racing.
Cover photo: Gresini Racing
