Alex Marquez

It's all-change for Alex Marquez in MotoGP 2023, with Marc's younger brother switching from Honda (LCR) to Ducati (Gresini) for his fourth season in the top flight.

Alex Marquez - Route to MotoGP

A rapid rise through the CEV ranks, including a 125cc championship title fight against Alex Rins, saw Alex Marquez break on to the world stage in 2012 in Moto3 as older brother Marc Marquez wrapped up the Moto2 world title.

After initial wildcard outings Marquez replaced Simone Grotzkyj from the midway point in the 2012 season and steadily found momentum and points places with Ambrogio Next Racing.

A move to Estrella Galicia 0,0 KTM gave Marquez the platform for a title tilt in his first full season which resulted in fourth place overall, before a move to Honda machinery paid off as he fought to the 2014 Moto3 world title by just two points from Jack Miller.

Moving to Marc VDS in Moto2 for 2015, Marquez found the adaptation to the intermediate class initially tricky as a rookie and had to wait until the 2016 Aragon race to reach the rostrum for the first time.

After two seasons of apprenticeship learning in Moto2, Marquez began to climb the pecking order still at Marc VDS and in 2017 he claimed three wins and three further podiums to finish the year fourth overall.

Marquez’s progress over 2017 had been expected to result in a title fight for 2018 but again the Spanish rider failed to find consistent front-running form which meant he could only reach fourth place again in the final Moto2 standings.

But in a make-or-break year, Marquez delivered in style to secure the Moto2 world title in his fifth year in the class, scoring five wins during the first-half of the year that allowed him to hold off a late charge from Brad Binder.

Despite this, Marquez was expected to remain in the Moto2 class for another season in 2020 before he was given an unexpected shot at the MotoGP class in place of Jorge Lorenzo.

Alex Marquez in MotoGP

Honda (2020 - Present)

With Lorenzo’s 11th hour retirement leaving the title-winning Repsol Honda team with precious few options to replace him, Marquez was called up to compete alongside Marc Marquez for 2020 in what was pitched as an introductory year to learn from his esteemed brother.

Indeed, with Pol Espargaro waiting in the wings to join Repsol Honda in 2021, Marquez already knew coming into the 2020 season that he would be levered to the satellite LCR squad for the following year before he’d even started his first race.

As it happens, his status was elevated on the back of Marc’s injury and the factory HRC effort suffered for it as he struggled to get to grips with the notoriously temperamental RC213V and the unique style it demands from its riders.

With qualifying a particular bugbear, Marquez nonetheless showed glimmers of promise as the year progressed ahead of a headline performance in damp conditions at the French MotoGP as he surged from 18th to second position, frustrated in the knowledge one more lap would have likely seen him overtake Danilo Petrucci for victory.

He’d go on to confirm it wasn’t a fluke of the conditions either as he picked up an identical result just a week later at Aragon though these would remain his standout results from an otherwise trying year.

For 2021, Marquez switched to the sister LCR squad but, like new team-mate Takaaki Nakagami, continued to get access to the latest factory spec machinery. 

Unfortunately, and against expectation, the RC213V lost ground over the winter (despite the Covid technical freeze meaning the engine remained unchanged) and Alex would be unable to replicate his rookie season rostrums.

The closest he came to silverware was fourth in the penultimate Algarve round on his way to just 16th in the world championship. But Alex certainly wasn't the only Honda rider to struggle in 2021 with Nakagami, who also peaked at fourth place in the races, left in 15th and Repsol replacement Pol Espargaro 12th.

The trio, like Alex's injured brother Marc, were pinning their hopes on the performance of an all-new RCV - with enhanced rear grip - for 2022. The bike performed promising in testing and the Qatar season-opener (third with Pol Espargaro) but rarely looked competitive from Indonesia onwards.

Marquez, last in line for new parts, couldn't crack the top six and there were doubts over his 2023 MotoGP future. But with Miguel Oliveira leaning towards Aprilia and RNF, Marquez sealed a deal to take over the Gresini seat vacated by four-time race winner Enea Bastianini.