Marc Marquez analysis: How does he compare to Valentino Rossi and Casey Stoner?

Heading into the summer season break following a fifth 37-point weekend in succession, Marc Marquez lastly admitted one thing many within the paddock have lengthy thought already in 2025: that is now his championship to lose.

After 12 rounds, the manufacturing unit Ducati rider is 120 factors clear within the MotoGP standings having amassed eight grand prix wins and 11 dash successes, with simply two of these 12 occasions not that includes him on a Sunday podium.

The step in kind Marquez has proven in 2025 on the GP25 harks again to his Honda domination days, however is arguably extra spectacular given the very fact he’s now 32 and is coming off the again of a critical arm damage in 2020 and years of ensuing restoration.

But it surely has additionally coincided with a area probably not in a position to maintain a candle to him. Alex Marquez did a high-quality job within the early a part of the marketing campaign on his year-old Gresini Ducati and even led the standings on two events. However the anticipated a number of grand prix wins haven’t come, whereas Pecco Bagnaia’s kind has dramatically fallen away as he continues to be unable to adapt to the GP25.

Marc Marquez, by no stretch, has had it straightforward. However his rivals picked a foul 12 months to make errors given how good the 32-year-old has really been this season.

There are nonetheless 10 races to go, however protected estimates recommend spherical 18 in Indonesia on 3-5 October would be the weekend the place Marquez is coronated for a seventh time within the premier class – matching Valentino Rossi’s tally set again in 2009.

Scoring at common of 31.75 factors per weekend in comparison with 21.75 for nearest title rival Alex Marquez, it’s possible (if that continues) then Marc Marquez might have a good time his first Ducati championship in Honda’s yard at Motegi. If he manages to attain 103 factors greater than Alex Marquez over the subsequent 4 rounds – which will likely be no small activity – he might even wrap up the championship at Misano in mid-September.

At any time when he celebrates the 2025 title, it’ll go down in historical past as probably the greatest seasons ever. However how does it examine to different dominant campaigns within the fashionable period?

How Marquez’s 2025 stacks up towards previous dominant years

Marquez’s tally in 2025 is vastly spectacular, particularly given how far more closed up the sector is in MotoGP normally now and the very fact he has 22 further races to deal with each season with the sprints on prime of the normal grands prix.

Unsurprisingly, his present marketing campaign brings to thoughts his most dominant championship up to now in 2019 – thus far his most up-to-date world title. In that 12 months, on the manufacturing unit Honda, Marquez gained 12 instances and led the standings on the finish of the 12 months by 151 factors. That’s the largest successful margin of any rider within the fashionable period. He additionally solely completed off the rostrum as soon as.

What was spectacular notably about that marketing campaign was the truth that the Honda wasn’t actually able to that. There have been solely three different HRC podiums that season, all of which from LCR’s Cal Crutchlow. Solely Marquez from the Japanese marque gained on the bike.

He took a complete of 88.4% of the obtainable factors up for grabs that 12 months. Presently he has 85.8% of the factors obtainable in 2025, albeit after 12 rounds in comparison with 19 in 2019.

His 2018 was equally dominant, although he was 76 factors clear within the championship with 9 wins and 4 of the 18 rounds with out a podium. Previous to that, his 2014 marketing campaign noticed him win a document 13 instances however solely have a 67-point lead within the standings on the finish of the season. He additionally didn’t get onto the rostrum simply 4 instances out of 18 rounds.

Earlier than Marquez dominance turned a staple of MotoGP within the 2010s, you must return to 2011 to see an identical show. Additionally on a manufacturing unit Honda, Casey Stoner romped to his second world title with a 90-point championship benefit and 10 wins, with only one race in 17 not that includes him on the rostrum.

In 2007 he was much more dominant on the manufacturing unit Ducati, successful the championship by 125 factors with 10 wins. Jorge Lorenzo’s 2010 was considered one of MotoGP’s extra dominant years, with the Yamaha rider 138 factors clear within the championship with 9 wins. Group-mate Valentino Rossi gained 9 races on his method to a 93-point lead within the standings in 2008. On each events, the pair had been off the rostrum simply twice.

Unsurprisingly, dominance and Valentino Rossi are two phrases that go collectively properly. In 2002, the primary of the fashionable MotoGP period, he took his manufacturing unit Honda to 11 wins and a 140-point lead within the standings. In 2003, he gained by 80 factors with 9 victories, however managed to complete on the rostrum in each single grand prix, giving him a whopping 89.25% of the factors obtainable from 16 rounds.

His 2005 title goes toe-to-toe with Marquez’s 2019 within the present race for one of the best ever. Rossi completely dominated on the manufacturing unit Yamaha, taking 11 wins and podiums in 16 of the 17 rounds to have a good time the title 147 factors away from everybody else.

Who had one of the best equipment?

Rating one of the best season ever in MotoGP is a tough one to really quantify. Arguably, there’s a case to make for 2 eventualities: one the place you go head-to-head with a brutal rival and simply come out on prime, or the opposite the place you’re so in management it’s borderline embarrassing for everybody else.

However, MotoGP title fights within the fashionable period have really seldom been down-to-the-wire affairs. The 2022-2024 battles went to the ultimate spherical, however earlier than that solely in 2017, 2015, 2013 and 2006.

Such has been the expertise of the very best in MotoGP within the twenty first Century that almost all of them sooner or later have been completely dominant. However rating pure dominance is nearly not possible as a result of there are at all times differing components at play.

All the seasons listed within the desk above noticed not more than three wins by others from the producer of the rider who gained barring 2003. In 2014, Marquez was fairly unstoppable however team-mate Dani Pedrosa spent a lot of the 12 months affected by arm pump. In 2011, Stoner’s team-mate Pedrosa additionally had damage woes, whereas Andrea Dovizioso wasn’t adequate to be successful races on the manufacturing unit Honda.

In 2010, Lorenzo’s title cost was made considerably simpler by team-mate Rossi breaking his leg mid-season, whereas Honda’s Dani Pedrosa additionally had his personal damage woes. The identical is true of 2008, with a rookie Lorenzo quick however mistake inclined.

Rossi’s early years of dominance on the RC211V did come on the grid’s finest bike. However the high quality of his rivals wasn’t nearly as good because it was later in his profession. 5 wins did go the best way of different Honda riders in 2003, highlighting the energy of the RC211V and four-time 2003 winner Sete Gibernau’s skill to typically hassle Rossi within the early 2000s.

No Yamaha rider gained aside from Rossi in 2005, however the M1 of these years is taken into account probably the greatest bikes ever. Yamaha’s secure exterior of Rossi wasn’t essentially as sturdy as his Honda stablemates had been, with simply three podiums being celebrated by an M1 that wasn’t the Italian’s. These had been scored by Colin Edwards, who ended that 12 months 188 factors behind within the championship.

In 2007, Casey Stoner undoubtedly didn’t have one of the best bike. He was dominant on the Ducati, sure, but it surely gained simply as soon as exterior of his 10 victories. Final 12 months, he recalled that the GP7 “wasn’t actually good at something”. Stoner was additionally fairly unfancied then as somebody able to that stage of domination, after a quick however crash-prone debut on the LCR Honda in 2006.

In some ways, 2019 for Marquez and 2007 for Stoner are essentially the most comparable seasons the place one rider has been out of attain within the championship. There are some things that put 2019 slightly forward, although. For starters, the competitiveness of the 2019 grid was a lot better than in 2007: Marquez discovered himself on the dropping finish of battles at Mugello, Austria and Silverstone that 12 months, and was run shut elsewhere.

He scored nearly 8% extra factors over the marketing campaign in 2019 than Stoner did in 2007, which may be attributed to Marquez being off the rostrum as soon as and Stoner 4 instances. And as talked about already, the Honda shouldn’t have been able to that: Marquez was in a position to journey across the issues, very like Stoner was on the Ducati.

So, to have ended up 151 factors clear by means of all of that’s unbelievable.

The query of finest bike in 2025 is barely difficult to reply. The GP25 arguably isn’t one of the best factor Ducati has placed on monitor just lately. It has solely gained as soon as exterior of Marquez’s arms, and Pecco Bagnaia’s Austin victory was a direct results of his team-mate crashing from a dominant lead.

The GP24, in principle, is a greater bike. However Alex Marquez has solely taken that to 1 grand prix win and one dash victory. Ducati has additionally solely been overwhelmed twice: as soon as within the moist at Le Mans by Honda and by Aprilia at an odd Silverstone race.

However, identical to he did in 2019, Marc Marquez is simply driving across the issues the bike has – one thing Bagnaia has repeatedly admitted he merely can not do. When it comes to what bike was worse, the 2019 Honda nonetheless retains that 12 months as Marquez’s finest for now.

Nonetheless, if he continues what he has already accomplished this 12 months, then it is going to be arduous not think about 2025 as his biggest season – and one of the best 12 months ever for a rider within the fashionable period.