Alex Marquez has hit back at claims he has “too much respect” for elder brother Marc Marquez following Sunday’s MotoGP race in Argentina.
The Gresini rider led most of Sunday’s grand prix but was overtaken with four laps to go, eventually finishing 1.362s behind the factory Ducati rider.
After the race, the younger Marquez was asked if he needs to “break the respect” he has for his brother to beat him, which the Spaniard found “disrespectful.”
“I’ve had this question many times; ‘when will you lose the respect for Marc [Marquez]’ or ‘you respect too much Marc’,” said Marquez via GPOne.
“For me, this question is disrespectful to me. I’m a rider. I give my 100% always, I try to push for my team, for my sponsors.
“I know that it’s my brother and I will have an extra respect when I overtake him.
“I’m the first one that wants to beat him and I want to win, but I’m more realistic than everybody because I know how Marc is.
“I know his strong points and I don’t have any problem saying about them. Maybe you will not say directly what your rival is doing really good, but it’s my brother.
“I don’t have any problem saying it, and I don’t have any problem with accepting if he’s better than me in some points.
“So I will try to learn. I will try to give like always my 100%, but stop thinking I have too much respect for Marc. We saw it today. We fight each other. He was faster than me and I gave my 100%.
“So I’m happy with second. I know that he is better than me in some areas and I will try to improve for the future.”
Marquez: ‘we need to improve in order to win’
Marquez came close to winning his first Grand Prix race but had to settle for a fourth-consecutive second place in races.
The Cervera native admitted the elder Marquez can push more in the later stages of the race, and suggested this is an area he is seeking to improve.
“I tried to push from the beginning, I did a good start, Pecco [Bagnaia] attacked me in turn 3 but I was able to come back to second,” Marquez said.
“I was feeling really good, I had a lot of doubts before the race about the tyre choice, but in the end I decided to be like Marc and Pecco with the medium rear.
“Later, when Marc did a small mistake at turn one I said, ‘OK, I go for it’. I tried to put a nice pace and was able to make a gap to the second group.”
“When he attacked me at Turn 5 I said, ‘OK, time to try’,” he added.
“So I gave my 100%. I did a ‘38.3 but he was able to make ‘38.2. I was really on the limit. Nearly crashing all the corners.
“I tried to fight with him and to be there. But he’s able to be more on the limit in the last part of the race. So we need to improve there.
“But I’m super happy about all the weekend.”
Marquez: ‘I’m at my strongest in MotoGP right now’
The younger Marquez brother has never finished higher than eighth in a MotoGP World Championship season but currently sits second in the standings after a strong start to 2025.
The Gresini rider confirmed he feels he is riding the best he ever has in the premier class.
“It’s the moment where I feel at my strongest in MotoGP,” Marquez said.
“This bike suits me in a really good way with the riding style. So I’m just enjoying being on the bike.
“I’m playing with the bike and it’s something really great. Just we need to keep going like that.
“The team are doing a super job, also the support from Ducati. We need to understand a few things from Marc, but here we were closer and it’s super nice to fight with your brother for a MotoGP victory.”
I think Martin is delaying his return for an excuse as to why he wasn’t in the title race this year as he knows he is going to get beaten convincingly. I hope their request to practice at Qatar is refused and he has to do the same as the other riders before him when they came back from injury.