Dani Pedrosa feels Marc Marquez ‘crushed everything’ in order to join Ducati’s factory MotoGP team in 2025, but is nonetheless impressed by how he transformed his fortunes in 12 months.
The 31-time grand prix winner has weighed in on how Marquez successfully orchestrated a rider market shuffle to grab the coveted seat at Ducati alongside Francesco Bagnaia for 2025.
It was Marquez’s reluctance to move to Pramac on the latest-spec bike that left Ducati with no option to promote him to the factory team, having originally decided on signing Pramac ace Jorge Martin to replace the underperforming Enea Bastianini.
The U-turn that the Italian marque was forced into making was proof of the power Marquez commands in MotoGP, despite not winning a grand prix since 2021.
Marquez’s antics are reminiscent of his former rival and fellow MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi, who was also known for manipulating the factories to act in his favour. In this case, securing the biggest star on the MotoGP grid meant Ducati will lose out on last year’s runner-up and long-time satellite team Pramac.
Pedrosa, who was Marquez’s team-mate during a dominant phase for Honda between 2013 and 2018, believes the events of the last few months show the ruthless nature of the 31-year-old.
“In Valentino’s case, his moves have always been made a little more from the heart, with a little more love, with a little more affection for the brand, with that harmony with what he was doing,” Pedrosa told Autosport’s sister site es.motorsport.com.
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“I think Marc Marquez is making that change, going through everything, crushing everything, whatever it takes.
“Marc has said ‘I have to be in that place’, so you can see that as a good thing, to say this guy wants to win and it’s a credit to him for what he’s doing.
“And in the same way you can think the opposite. Because I don’t know how the issue of [personal sponsor] Red Bull is going to be, because we have already seen that the Honda issue is behind us.
“There are many things in between that have accompanied him during this time, mechanics and all, but he has preferred to have the winning bike than to continue with all these relationships that he has had for so many years.
“There are people who can see that as a good thing and others who can see it as a bad thing.
“In reference to the question of the comparison with Valentino,…
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