How Marquez flattened tyre pressure worry to complete Thai MotoGP treble

A Marc Marquez victory in the Thailand Grand Prix had looked certain ever since the MotoGP paddock reconvened in the Buriram paddock on Friday. Pole position in qualifying and a brilliant performance in the sprint only cemented the belief that Marquez was going to dominate the opening round of the weekend from start to finish.

Indeed, as Marquez romped away from pole position in Sunday’s grand prix and pulled clear in front, the viewers were bracing for a processional race at Buriram. The Spaniard built an advantage of 1.4s out front, setting the fastest lap of the race on the fourth tour – a 1m30.637s. Alex Marquez was the only other rider to consistently lap in the 1m30s bracket, but he too was unable to keep up with his elder brother in the race.

But all that changed when the six-time MotoGP champion suddenly slowed down at Turn 3 on lap 7 of 26, and looked over his shoulder as Alex Marquez sprinted ahead of him on the following straight. The camera immediately pointed towards the anxious faces at Ducati, who were left wondering if their new star signing had hit a technical snag.

But as the older of the two Marquez siblings immediately picked up speed and slotted in behind his brother, it became clear that whatever problem there was had been fixed automatically.

However, with Alex Marquez now in front, the race pace dropped significantly. Instead of lapping in the high 1m30s, and dragging the other factory Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia with them, the two Spaniards were now managing low 1m31s at best.

A theory emerged about Marc Marquez’s sudden drop in performance and this was subsequently confirmed after the race: he had slowed down on purpose to keep the tyre pressure within the set limit.

MotoGP riders must stay above 1.8 bars of tyre pressure for 60% of a grand prix distance. For sprint races, the same requirement only applies to 30% of the lap count and as such Marquez could afford to lead from the front on Saturday without worrying about his tyre temperature dropping for long periods. But as he explained later, he was continuously running below 1.8 bars during the early phases of the grand prix and was left with no option but to let his Gresini-mounted brother through. Running in the dirty air of Alex Marquez, his tyre pressure shot back up – at the cost of outright speed – thus keeping him on the right side of the regulations.

Marc Marquez remained in second place until four laps from the finish, when he made the pass into Turn 12 that secured him victory at Buriram. The move was timed to perfection, as his dash showed he had a safety margin of just three laps at the end of the race. After completing the move, the elder Marquez posted a blistering lap of 1m31.228s on 24-lap old tyres, at a time both his brother and Bagnaia were lapping in the 1m32s. This immediately put him 1.2s clear of Alex and he eventually took the chequered flag with 1.7s in hand.

With that result, he sent out a clear warning to his rivals that he is out to dominate MotoGP again and chase that seventh premier class title that will put him level with his long-time foe Valentino Rossi.

“Maybe [after] changing the riding style the pressure was not the correct one, but [it is] experience for the future” Marc Marquez

However, the 32-year-old could have had a much easier time had it not been for the tyre pressure issues that impacted his race. Given Marc Marquez was expected to lead from the front, the assumption was that Ducati would have set up his bike accordingly. Asked if he had started the race with a low tyre pressure, Marquez didn’t give a definite answer: “We need to understand why [we ran into issues] because yesterday they calculated [the level].

“But I’m new in the team and they still need to know me. Sometimes when I have the pace on Sunday, I change the riding style, I push the front less because it’s where I can crash and it’s the only thing I don’t want to do. I changed the riding style because at this track I was able to ride in two-three different ways with the same lap time. So maybe [after] changing the riding style the pressure was not the correct one, but [it is] experience for the future.”

Alex Marquez didn’t have the pace to match his brother, but second place marked a historic 1-2 finish for the siblings from Cervera. While the result was commendable in itself, and further goes to show how impressive he can be on a competitive bike, it wasn’t an easy race for the 28-year-old.

The 2025 opener was one of Alex Marquez’s strongest career showing in the premier class, but he still got overshadowed by his brother

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Much like in the sprint, Alex Marquez lost out to a fast-charging Bagnaia at the start of the grand prix, slipping back to third place. He then ran wide at Turn 1 as he tried to retake position, which also dropped him behind the Trackhouse Aprilia of Ai Ogura into fourth. However, the younger Marquez was in no mood to sit back, repassing both Ogura and Bagnaia in quick succession over the remainder of the lap to regain second place.

When Marc Marquez handed him the lead on lap 7, Alex did an incredible job of managing his pace and staying in front. Despite the six-time premier class champion sitting on his tail, he didn’t put a foot wrong and was able to accelerate well out of the corners to maintain the lead. Ultimately, all that defending did eat his front tyre up and, by the time Marc made his way through on lap 23, Alex knew that he would have to nurse his bike to the finish.

Third place for Bagnaia was a major disappointment given his stature and recent history, but it was not really surprising considering how testing and the race weekend had gone until that point. Second place was his main target going into the race, which seemed possible given his ability to make rapid overnight gains following sprints, but Alex Marquez had the measure of him through the 26 laps at Buriram. Although Marc Marquez’s tactics brought him into contention for the race win, Bagnaia couldn’t close the gap to the leading two without risking losing the front end of his Ducati.

Behind him, VR46 Franco Morbidelli completed a 1-2-3-4 for Ducati. The Italian recovered from a three-place grid drop to close right in behind countryman Bagnaia, but ultimately finished three seconds off the podium. One of the most impressive rides came from MotoGP rookie Ogura, who defied his experience to finish as the top Aprilia in fifth. The fact that he finished seven seconds clear of factory Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi, who came sixth, was a huge achievement.

Honda came on top in the ‘Japanese Cup’ courtesy of Johann Zarco’s charge to seventh place. That’s the same position factory HRC rider Joan Mir held until he crashed out of the race shortly after the halfway point.

With KTM’s new star Pedro Acosta crashing on the fourth lap, it was his team-mate Brad Binder who flew the flag for the Austrian manufacturer, taking eighth place. But arguably his stablemate Enea Bastianini’s performance was even more noteworthy, as he rose from 20th on the grid to finish ninth – less than two weeks after an underwhelming test at the same track.

One rider who went in the opposite direction was Pramac’s Jack Miller, who slid from fourth on the grid to a disappointing 11th place. The Australian held a solid sixth place until lap 16, before a “fairing mishap” sent him tumbling down the order. However, he was still Yamaha’s top finisher in the race after factory rider Fabio Quartararo lost nine places on the first two laps, falling from 10th to 19th. He recovered to grab the final point in 15th.

Ogura stunned on his MotoGP debut as the top non-Ducati finisher

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images