Alex Márquez on the new format: “Accept it or leave MotoGP”

The MotoGP World Championship heads to the Mandalika International Street Circuit in Indonesia this weekend. Aprilia dominated there in 2025, but was unable to capitalise on that position to secure a race win in Sunday’s main race – the Grand Prix was won by Gresini-Ducati rider Fermin Aldeguer. For his team-mate Alex Márquez, the aim this year is to put the turbulent Motegi weekend – which saw him receive a double long-lap penalty following a sprint crash he caused – behind him and get back on track.

“Everything here is different again compared to Motegi. We need to see how we can adapt to the rear tyres. We don’t want to make any mistakes and we want to make the most of our potential. We want to have the pace to achieve a good result,” emphasised the younger of the Marquez brothers.

Interesting: when it came to the different casings and compounds of the rear tyres, even he got a bit confused: “The new tarmac helped us at Motegi; the medium tyre was also relatively soft there. Here we have a different carcass – it’s the one with the ‘A-N’ code, isn’t it? In any case, it’s more about grip on the tyre edge here. The grip level here is also quite different from, say, in Austria.”

Alex Márquez could only offer a wry smile at the changes to the schedule of a MotoGP weekend from 2027 onwards. He commented: “It won’t change the decisions if we voice our opinion on this. It’s simply a matter of accepting it or leaving the MotoGP World Championship. We’ll be spending more time on the track and there’ll be more risk involved too. It is what it is – we have to accept it and there’s not much we can do about it.”

Alex Márquez: “It’s impossible to get 22 riders to see eye to eye”

AM73 emphasised that there would be little common ground amongst the riders either: “It’s impossible to get 22 riders to see eye to eye. There will always be differing opinions. There’s also always a bit of pressure from the manufacturers in one direction or another. We’ve all got our contracts, and that makes things quite difficult. If you’re going to change the format, you have to do it before the contracts are signed.”

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MotoGP World Championship

09.10.2026 - 02:55

Would it at least be possible to bring back the warm-up in its usual form? “The warm-up is really more for when you crash on Saturday and need to check the bike again,” clarified Alex Márquez. “For me, it’s not really necessary. In 2027, we’ll have more time to get onto the grid. It’ll be the same for all riders – we’ll have to accept that.”