MotoGP after Qatar: Marquez exhausted, Bradl speculates about retirement

• Marquez did only two laps on Friday afternoon and went out late in the warm-up to save energy for the race
• Bradl suspects Marquez could retire after an eighth title despite a contract running until 2028, Marquez himself did not comment
• Lusail reports a record crowd of 55,120 spectators, Bagnaia will undergo foot surgery in Italy

The chequered flag had fallen in Lusail and the fireworks had faded, but the real stories of the evening only came afterwards. Marco Bezzecchi had won the Qatar Grand Prix and denied Marc Marquez his first match point. In the interviews and media sessions after the race, however, the talk was less about lap times than about energy reserves, miracles and the question of how much longer the world champion is willing to put himself through all this. Ahead of the last two rounds of the 2026 MotoGP season in Portimão and Valencia, quite a lot has shifted.

How is Marc Marquez after the Qatar GP?

Marquez was visibly drained after the race and made no secret of it. Mentally, he says, he has hardly ever felt better, but physically he was completely exhausted on this Sunday.

The strain was already visible on the cool-down lap to parc fermé. Afterwards he explained that the third race weekend in a row had taken a heavy toll on him. On Friday afternoon he did just two laps and then returned to the garage. In Sunday’s warm-up he also went out on track late because he wanted to save his strength for the Grand Prix. By his own assessment, he would not be able to ride a motorcycle at all without his mental strength.

The result itself fits that picture. Marquez rode deliberately conservatively in Qatar and above all took points off Jorge Martin. Second place gives him a second match point in Portimão. The two-week break until then comes at the right time for him. In the cool-down room after the race, Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez were still marvelling at the Ducati on the main straight, against which Fernandez stood no chance in the closing stages. Marquez returned the compliment: Ducati is doing a good job, but so is Aprilia.

What does Stefan Bradl say about a possible Marquez retirement?

Bradl believes Marquez could retire after an eighth premier-class title, even though his Ducati contract runs until the end of 2028. The former Honda test rider is now a TV pundit and worked closely with Marquez for six years.

Speaking on ServusTV, Bradl said his gut feeling and what he has picked up suggest that Marquez “could then probably hang up his helmet” after this season if he wins the title. He sees two possible reasons. With eight premier-class titles, Marquez would move past Valentino Rossi, with whom he shares a long rivalry. In addition, you can tell how much energy the title fight is costing him. Appointments and promotional duties around the races take up time he actually needs for his body. Bradl said he would be happy for him to draw a line under his career with the title.

None of this is confirmed. Marquez himself did not mention retirement either in the press conference or in interviews. In June he officially extended his Ducati contract until the end of 2028, having previously left open whether he would still be competitive enough after his shoulder injury. Pedro Acosta is set to join him as his new teammate in 2027.

Has Bezzecchi already written off the world title?

Mathematically no, but mentally it seems partly so. Bezzecchi said after the race that he would need a miracle, and that this season the miracles have not been on his side.

It does not really seem to bother him. He is happy to be fighting at the front again at all, the Italian said. After the difficult weeks, competing with Marquez and Martin is extra motivation. He called both of them legends he wants to learn from. He wants to enjoy every moment and take as much as possible with him for the future. That sounds more like a run-up to 2027 than a final assault.

Another goal, on the other hand, is far from unrealistic for Bezzecchi: he is just 14 points behind teammate Martin for second place in the championship. There is also a subtlety in the theoretical title fight. In the event of a tie on points, the number of wins decides, and there Marquez leads Bezzecchi seven to six. Since Bezzecchi would have to win all remaining races to draw level anyway, he would then also be ahead on wins. Martin, by contrast, would actually have to overtake Marquez in the points standings.

How much was in Martin’s seventh place?

According to Aprilia, everything that was possible. Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola said after the race that Martin did not have a drop left in the tank and that nothing more was possible on the night.

Two weeks after breaking his radius, Martin completed the full 22-lap distance and secured nine points. That alone would have postponed the title decision even without Bezzecchi’s win. Marquez also paid him respect and congratulated him on the cool-down lap. Martin was welcomed back to the Aprilia garage with applause.

For Rivola, the championship is not decided yet. It is not over until it is over, he said. At the same time, he pointed to the manufacturers’ standings, where Aprilia is only eight points behind Ducati. Marquez once again showed how skilfully he manages his tyres, but the Aprilia is fast, and that is the most important thing.

Rivola sticks to his criticism of the stewards

Before the race, Rivola had once again spoken about the collision between Marquez and Bezzecchi in the sprint. His opinion had not changed in 24 hours, he said. What bothers him most is that the stewards did not investigate the incident more closely, for example by hearing both riders after the sprint. For an incident with such a big impact on the championship, he would have liked more care. In his view it is clear who could have avoided the crash, and it was not Bezzecchi. The stewards classed the contact as a racing incident. Penalties are based on the riders’ behaviour, not on the consequences for the championship.

Why did Pedro Acosta not get a penalty?

Because he apparently complied with the tyre pressure rules in the end after all. The stewards’ final report lists not a single penalty for the Grand Prix.

Acosta had done everything in the race to achieve exactly that. He first let his future teammate Marquez and later his brand colleague Enea Bastianini past in order to ride in their slipstream. The rule requires a rider to be above the minimum front tyre pressure for at least 60 percent of the laps in the Grand Prix, and 30 percent in the sprint. Otherwise a 16- or eight-second time penalty applies. Riding alone is a problem because the pressure then drops. Behind another bike it rises.

At KTM the rule has long been a sore point. Last year Maverick Viñales lost second place in Qatar this way, and in Austin this season it cost Acosta a sprint podium. KTM motorsport boss Pit Beirer then demanded that the rule be changed or scrapped. In his view it has nothing to do with cheating and says nothing about whether a team has done a good job. He suggests checking the pressure on the starting grid instead. In Qatar, Acosta escaped without a penalty, but the price was a race in which he could hardly ride freely and finished only sixth.

Voices and news from the field

Raul Fernandez was hard on himself after his podium. The fuel consumption problems started after just six or seven laps. He had not done a good job at the start of the race, he said, because he had not saved enough fuel to keep Marquez behind him at the end. He did not want to become easy prey for Marquez, but he failed to avoid that. Even so, the joy of his sixth Sunday podium of the season prevailed, achieved with two broken fingers on his right hand.

Diogo Moreira has explained the reason for his retirement. Since a crash at the Sachsenring last year, he has had problems with a nerve in his elbow. He was already in pain in Malaysia but still managed to finish the race. In Qatar the symptoms started on Friday and got steadily worse until he retired from the race. The Brazilian does not want surgery for now. The break until Portimão is meant to help. Brad Binder retired with a gearbox failure.

Fabio Di Giannantonio is likely to have fallen far short of his expectations with eighth place. He had finished qualifying third, came second in the sprint and set the fastest time in the warm-up. In the race he ended up more than 15 seconds behind the winner. Jake Dixon, standing in for Joan Mir, scored his first MotoGP points in 14th place.

How is Pecco Bagnaia after his sprint crash?

Bagnaia will undergo surgery on his right foot. Ducati confirmed that he suffered double fractures of the fourth and fifth metatarsals and has flown back to Italy for treatment. The operation is scheduled for Monday or Tuesday.

Bagnaia posted on Instagram himself. He wrote that Qatar had strangely been one of his best weekends of the season, and that this is exactly what he wants to hold on to after being annoyed about other things for far too long. He is fine and will be back soon. Whether he will ride for Ducati again in Portimão or Valencia before moving to Aprilia remains open.

When does the season continue in Portimão?

The Portuguese Grand Prix takes place from 20 to 22 November, followed a week later by the season finale in Valencia. If Marquez wins the sprint in Portimão on Saturday, he is world champion.

Until then, the teams are heading home after the last triple-header of the season. Bezzecchi was looking forward above all to seeing his family, friends and his dog again. Lusail will be remembered for a record: according to official figures, 55,120 spectators came to the circuit over the weekend, more than ever before at a Qatar Grand Prix. The previous record dated from 2023. On Sunday alone there were 26,807 visitors, on Saturday 19,630.

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