Why Marquez’s Argentina masterclass was nothing like his Thailand triumph

There’s a refreshing element to MotoGP’s current sibling rivalry. It’s one that takes nearly all the conjecture out of writing a piece like this.

The thing about these Marquez brothers, who seem to embody the happy, harmonious, life-loving Spanish family, is that they’re fastidiously honest with each other. And if they don’t play mental games with each other, that means they don’t have to play them with the media either.

Alex said as much after the Argentina Grand Prix on Sunday. You don’t normally show weakness to a rival in top-level sport. Even if he has you beat in a certain area, you certainly don’t admit that in public. But in the Gresini Ducati man’s words, “It’s my brother, so I don’t have any problem saying it. And I don’t have any problem with accepting if he’s better than me in some points.”

Factory Ducati rider Marc, who is doing all the winning so far in 2025, has a slightly easier job on the storytelling front for the time being. Praising someone you’ve beaten is almost meaningless compared to praising someone who’s beaten you. But Marc didn’t need to go to the lengths he went to on Sunday, when he said Alex was his main opponent for the 2025 title. When Alex does win a race, Marc won’t hold back with giving fair and considered credit.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying that, when the Marquez brothers come into the press room after a private battle of a race, grinning like they’ve just been playing football in their garden in Cervera, still jabbering away to each other about their favourite moments, you’ll get an honest assessment of the race from both. Never mind that one of them has 63 MotoGP grand prix wins to his name and the other zero: with brothers, it doesn’t matter.

That this was exactly the scene after the Argentina GP is most helpful in trying to understand not only this race but the question of just how dominant Marc Marquez is – or might continue to be – in 2025.

Alex’s take on the opening grand prix in Thailand was that Marc had a far more significant advantage than he showed. As he put it, “When Marc overtook me, it was like ‘ciao!’”

The paddock and the world were in full agreement that the Marc Marquez win in the Thai GP could have been a much bigger one. The fact that Marc held back at Buriram was probably more about toying with other rivals – particularly team-mate Francesco Bagnaia – than about Alex, who would hear the truth in the family debrief anyway.

As a second dominant weekend for Marc began to take shape in Argentina, the big question was whether he was having to try a little bit harder than he had needed to in Thailand.

The puzzling difference to Thailand, however, was that Marc hadn’t given the lead to Alex this time. He lost it outbraking himself into the first corner on lap four

That the grand prix followed a similar pattern to the first of the year might appear to provide a simple answer. Just as at Buriram, Marc lost the lead to Alex for the middle part of the race before reclaiming it with fewer than five laps to go. And after all, the decisive move at Termas de Rio Hondo looked almost the same formality it had been in Thailand. Marc seemed almost to have the pass done before braking had even begun in earnest, then pulled away to win by 1.362 seconds – as big a gap as had split the pair throughout the 25 laps.

The puzzling difference to Thailand, however, was that Marc hadn’t given the lead to Alex this time. He lost it outbraking himself into the first corner on lap four. Also, there had been signs of the older brother actually having to push to keep up with Alex after that. On lap 15, he had to call on his famous rescue powers to save a high-speed moment at Turn 11.

And then there was the fact that Marc needed two attempts to regain the lead. The first, on lap 18, resulted in him overshooting Turn 5 and having to slot back in behind Alex for a couple of laps.

Despite the results being the same, Marc Marquez had to work far harder for his Argentina GP victory

Photo by: Gresini Racing

Luckily, as discussed, there’s no need to be puzzled or cynical when these brothers analyse an exclusive duel such as this one. Nobody else was involved, so they put all their cards on the table.

They were unanimous: Marc did have to earn his win. He was, in fact, stretched for most of the race distance. It was only at the very end that he really had an edge – hence the relatively easy pass with four laps left.

Alex was very specific in his analysis: Marc wasn’t cruising at the end of the race. He was actually on the limit in the final few laps. It’s just that Alex didn’t feel able to follow him there on older tyres.

“In the last part of the race, he’s able to be right on the [edge] of the limit,” said Alex. “He’s really comfortable on that limit. I’m struggling a little bit more there. All the riders are struggling more in that part of the race, but he’s able to be there, and especially on that limit line he is really comfortable. That’s where the difference was. I need to improve in that area of the race.”

By the time Marc reclaimed the lead, Alex had already accepted this fact. That’s why the move ultimately looked easy.

“When he tried to overtake me and went wide in Turn 5, I said, ‘Now I’ll really try to push,’” added the younger Marquez. “I tried to do a fast lap, a 1m38.3s – but he did 38.2s! So I said, ‘OK, let’s finish like this’. I couldn’t go at that [pace] because I was already on the limit and wasn’t feeling really safe. So I decided to push a little bit less and get there in second.”

A straightforward spin on this would be that Marc was in tyre-conservation mode for the middle part of the race and looked after his medium rear better than his brother in that phase. But, as we have already observed – and as Marc is about to remind us – he was pushing most of the way. If his tyres were better at the end, it was down to a far more subtle – some might say genius – degree of adaptability.

Alex Marquez admits nobody can match Marc’s late race pace at the moment

Photo by: MotoGP

The lap 15 moment at Turn 11 was something of a turning point in his approach, explained Marc: “I had some moments like that at Turn 11 throughout the weekend, but today in the race it was a bigger one! That’s where I understood I had to change the riding style. I tried to ride in a different way. My strong point is going into the corner super-fast and I was not able to do it today with the medium rear tyre. I tried…in those laps to see if I could be close to Alex, and then at the end with the [worn] tyre I felt even better.”

Marc makes such a thinking ride sound easy, but it really isn’t. It’s what sets him apart from most of the field and a large part of the reason why Bagnaia is going to have to reach another level to beat him on the same factory bike. And lest we forget, he did it while really being stretched by his younger brother.

“I took a lot of risks at some points in the race – maybe too much!” Marc Marquez

“There were some moments today when I said to myself, ‘OK, second place is enough!’” Marc admitted. “In the end, I [managed to win]. But as you saw, I took a lot of risks at some points in the race – maybe too much!”

In the cold hindsight of the Monday after, though, it wasn’t too much. It was just right for sealing the win at Termas de Rio Hondo.

Marc and Alex celebrate with father Julia Marquez after another MotoGP masterclass

Photo by: Gresini Racing