MotoGP
Published on April 11, 2025 • 14:36 PM by Marc Sériau

MotoGP Qatar FP1 LIVE: Marc Marquez crushes the competition!

The Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix concludes the early-season overseas tour before the return to Europe. What does Marc Marquez have in store for us?

For its fourth round, the world championship MotoGP stops in the Middle East for the Grand Prix of Qatar, which is taking place for the 23rd time on the Lusail circuit in Doha, while Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) has just stumbled in the USA and lost the lead in the general classification.

After his perfect start to the season, and while he was nicknamed the sheriff of the place, the #93 fouled in Austin, leaving his brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) took the lead in the general classification after his best start to a premier class season. How long will he hold on to it, against his brother who has a very long streak but has never outrageously dominated here?

In any case, after three races, with 19 remaining, the two brothers lead the championship with 87 and 86 points, barely a dozen units ahead of the one forced to bow out at the start of the year, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). Pecco probably didn't ask for so much, but he didn't let the opportunity offered by his teammate's mistake go to waste, which now allows him to look to the future with his head a little higher. The Italian is making one of his best starts to the season, arriving at a circuit where he generally performs well, and knows perfectly well the length of a championship and the hazards associated with it...

Behind these three men, there are two other Ducati riders, in this case Franco Morbidely et Fabio Di Giannantonio, both members du Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team. If they appear in this order in the classification, it was exactly the opposite during the Sprint (4th and 5th) and the Grand Prix (3rd and 4th) in Austin, a very homogeneous overall performance allowing Valentino Rossi's team to appear in 2nd place in the teams' classification.

First “non-Ducati” rider, the rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) is definitely impressive on his Aprilia, despite the hard knocks to swallow, such as his disqualification in Argentina and his winning bet reduced to nothing in Texas.

7th, Johann zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) was en full form anear another Argentina memorable, but, with a blockage in Q1, good performances from the other Honda drivers and With the Texan results being void of any points, the North American Texan round proved less positive than its southern counterpart, and will have to be erased, even if the Frenchman was fighting for 7th place before falling at the end of the GP.

For fabio quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), some positive points have been detected but have not yet been fully exploited. Let's hope the planets align in Qatar...

Also worth watching Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), 2nd twice last year…

But of course, the big news concerns the return of George Martin (Aprilia Racing) after a disastrous start to the year for the reigning world champion. But beware! Still recovering and with only 13 laps completed on his RS-GP, we're not expecting anything spectacular from the Madrilenian! Let's just hope he gets used to his new ride without falling.

 

To write this fourth chapter of the 2025 MotoGP season, the 11-meter track will have to be covered 5380 times during Saturday's Sprint and 22 laps completed on Sunday, on a track where all the records date from last year.

The combination of the typical "Tilke" track layout, with its long straight and sharp changes of direction, and the characteristics of the new surface make this circuit a generally fast track, but very abrasive and demanding for the tires. The size and shape of the stones that make up the top layer of asphalt (the so-called macro-roughness) provide a good level of grip, but compromise the consistency and longevity of the softest tires. This property of the track changes very slowly over the years, as the repeated passages of cars and motorcycles act very gradually on the shape of the stones.
Another characteristic of Lusail is the presence of sand on the track. This thin layer deposited by the wind increases tire slippage, and therefore amplifies wear. Tires are affected by this phenomenon at the front and rear. To cope with these constraints, Michelin has introduced a range of adapted tires, with stiffer specifications.

MotoGP returns to the Lusail circuit for the 23rd time in 2025 but only for the 19th time under the spotlight. From 2007 to 2022, it opened the season before being moved later in the year in 2023, the circuit having undergone some renovations, including the installation of a new paddock. In 2024, it opened the season again, before returning in April at a slightly later date.

Among the current full-time MotoGP riders, Maverick Casa Particular in Viñales holds the most wins, 2 (2017, 2021/1), ahead of Enea Bastianini 1 (2022), Marc Marquez 1 (2014), fabio quartararo 1 (2021/2), Fabio Di Giannantonio 1 (2023) and Francesco Bagnaia 1 (2024) .

10 current riders have reached the podium in MotoGP,  Marc Marquez (5) Francesco Bagnaia (3) Maverick Vinales (2) Johann zarco (2) Brad Binder (2) George Martin (2) Fabio Di Giannantonio (1) Luca marini (1) Enea Bastianini (1) Fabio Quartararo (1).
6 of them have already started in pole position, Jorge Martin (3) et Maverick Vinales (2) Marc Marquez (1) Francis Bagnaia (1) Johann zarco (1) Luca marini (1).

The records are set in 1'50.789 (George Martin) since 2024, and 362,4 km/h for the speed per John Zarco since 2021.

At the last edition in 2024, Francesco Bagnaia won the GP in front of Brad Binder et Jorge Martinas Jorge Martin, Brad Binder et Alex Espargaro climbed onto the Sprint podium.

For the fourth round of a 22-round season, we'll still be able to sleep in thanks to the Sprint at 19 p.m. and the GP at 19 p.m., and as for the weather, it's going to be very hot!

On the pilot side, Augusto Fernandez is still in the Pramac box on the motorcycle of Miguel Oliveira, the latter having nevertheless made the trip to Qatar.

While waiting to discover more, as the 22 drivers prepare for this first 45-minute free practice session, under a clear sky and temperatures of 30° in the air and 50° on the ground, let's enjoy these few moments of live coverage thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

Here is a table that summarizes the known facts:

MotoGP™ Qatar

2024

2025
FP1 1'52.624 Jorge Martin (See here) 1'52.288 Marc Marquez (See here)
Practice 2'06.544 Marc Marquez (See here) (See here)
FP2 1'51.108 Alex Marquez (See here) (See here)
Q1 1.51.436 Raul Fernandez (See here) (See here)
Q2 1'50.789 Jorge Martin (See here) (See here)
Sprint Martin, Binder, Espargaro (See here) (See here)
Warm Up 1'52.660 Maverick Vinales (See here) (See here)
Course Bagnaia, Binder, Martin (See here) (See here)
All time lap record 1'50.789 Jorge Martin (See here)

When the red lights go out... Alex Marquez starts first in front of his teammate Fermin Aldeguer, while for once Fabio Quartararo leave it to Fabio Di Giannantonio to start last.

In fact, for some reason that is still unexplained, the latter remains in his box, under the eyes of Valentino Rossi.

Tire-wise, everyone uses the medium tire at the rear while all three choices are used at the front.

Unfortunately, the motorcycle of Johann zarco stops on the circuit at the end of its launch lap.

At the end of the first round, Marc Márquez registered the first reference in 1'55.312 in front Marco Bezzecchi, Jack Miller, Pedro Acosta and Alex Rins.

The painting then takes on a familiar air with Marc Marquez in 1'53.144 ahead of his brother Alex Marquez, the two pilots being followed by Joan Mir, Marco Bezzecchi and Francesco Bagnaia.

A little explanation between pilots...

After four rounds, while he has visibly lost none of his style, George Martin already returns to his box, while he was in 16th position. He removes his glove from his right hand, under the eyes of Doctor Charte.

At the end of the first run, the hierarchy is composed of Marc Márquez, Alex Márquez, Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo, Joan Mir, Franco Morbidelli, Fermin Aldeguer, Pedro Acosta, Jack Miller, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Marco Bezzecchi, Enea Bastianini, Brad Binder, Maverick Viñales, Ai Ogura, Luca Marini, Alex Rins, Raul Fernandez, Jorge Martin, Augusto Fernandez, Somkiat Chantra and Johann Zarco who has still not recorded any time.

Fabio DiGiannantonio, who is on an offbeat strategy, takes advantage of his opponents' stop to move up to fourth position.

On his second motorcycle, Johann zarco first climbs to 12th position then jumps to 6th place.

Just after mid-session, Marc Márquez displays 1'52.742 then 1'52.388, relegating his brother to more than half a second. At this moment, only three drivers are within the same second...

We also note the presence of the two official Hondas in the top 6, proof that we found something with the Japanese manufacturer...

At the start of the last quarter of an hour, the top 10 includes Marc Márquez, Alex Márquez, Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli, Joan Mir, Fermin Aldeguer, Luca Marini, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Fabio Quartararo.

Still on used tires, Peter Acosta then rises to fourth position, fabio quartararo sixth in his wheel.

Six minutes from the checkered flag, few drivers have stopped in their pits and none have put on two soft tires to challenge the clock, apart from Augusto Fernandez then in 21st position.

In the wake, Marco Bezzecchi also puts on new tires, which allows him to bounce back to fourth place. Maverick Vinales, 11th, does the same and dislodges him shortly after.

Conversely, with 15-lap tires, Marc Marquez adds another layer, lighting up all the sectors in red before displaying 1'52.288.

The session ends with the minor fall of Jack Miller at turn #4.

See you at 19 p.m. for the Pre-Qualifying Practice!

Results of FP1 of the 2025 MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix, in Lusail: 

 Classification credit: MotoGP.com