This week it was announced that Ducati have rummaged around in the spare parts bin to find enough extra bits to offer Alex Marquez a full factory spec machine for 2026. Marquez Lite has easily impressed enough this season so far to deserve this – but is this a blessing or a curse?
Let’s find out.
Blessing
New stuff is great
Does having the very latest tech make you better than someone else who hasn’t? Of course it does. If you have a newer phone than someone else then, by the laws of the universe, you are a more superior person – and it’s your duty to ensure the inferior waifs know your superiority by showing them all the new features they don’t have.
Having the latest Ducati with all the best bits of carbon fibre superglued all over it is a huge badge of honour. It’s literally the best bike in the world (even beating the Suzuki Goose 350) making Alex’s bragging rights infinite.
Dodge the GP25
These days Ducati don’t often get it wrong but this season’s GP25 MotoGP machine appears to be a step backwards from last year’s GP24. We’re not talking an ‘un-flushable turd’ here (see KR211V for further details) – more of a ‘awkwardly shaped turd with a small fuel tank’.
Chances are that the Bolognaise based firm have probably sussed out the issues with this season’s bike (other than Bagnaia’s riding it) and will rectify the problems for next year.
Sadly that means all the Ducati riders that are smugly enjoying the GP24 will be forced to endure the GP25 next year and will no doubt be left smiling out of the other side of their haircuts…except Alex who, like me on a morning if the dog’s not been out, will gracefully skip over the awkward turd.
Fair fight
No one in their right mind believes that Alex can beat his brother Marc. Whereas as Alex is friendly and cuddly the elder Marquez is so evil that every night Satan checks under his bed to make sure he’s not there.
But the only way for Alex to ever be respected as a great is to beat Pecco Bagnaia on the same bike and take the fight to his brother. If he can do this then his haters will need to desperately scramble around for a new reason to belittle him.
Curse
Fair fight
Being in a fair fight is great if you’re actually better than your opponent. If you’re not then you need help – and in motorsport that means superior equipment. This was the cornerstone basis of all Jenson Button’s F1 successes.
What if Alex suddenly finds out, having received the same equipment, that Fabio DigiBox is now faster than him? Or worst still Bagnaia? Who or what can you blame then? Especially given Pecco’s already copyrighted most of the excuses.
Plausible excuse
Performing well on inferior equipment means you never lose. If you have a great day everyone loves you. If you’re rubbish you can blame the bike. It’s why Fabio Quartararararo is so highly rated.
But that will all end for Alex the moment he first swings his donkey-kicking leg over his factory spec Ducati.
Expectations
With great bikes comes great responsibilities…or something along those lines. Having had the old-stock safety net suddenly Alex will be expected to perform…all whilst fending off a clan of younger riders snarling around his feet waiting for him to fail.
It’s almost like being made prime minster of a country and suddenly being exposed as being a treacherous, useless, lying pillock. But of course we’d never say that here in the UK.
Factory spec 0.9
When is a factory spec bike not a factory spec bike? When it’s not a factory-team factory-spec bike.
You see all the new, shiny performance parts developed throughout 2026 will always be first sent to the Ducati factory riders. That way Marquez can go even faster and Bagnaia can complain that they’re making him even slower.
Alex, if he’s lucky, will receive the upgrades several races later.
