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

MotoGP Qatar FP1 LIVE: Marc Marquez crushes the competition!

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

For its fourth round, the MotoGP world championship stops in the Middle East, for the Qatar Grand Prix, which takes 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 overall standings.

After a perfect start to the season, and having earned the nickname "the local sheriff," #93 made a mistake in Austin, allowing his brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) to take the lead in the overall standings after his best start to the season in the premier class. How long will he hold onto it, facing his ambitious brother who has never truly dominated here?

In any case, after three races, with 19 remaining, the two brothers lead the championship with 87 and 86 points respectively, barely a dozen points ahead of Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), who was forced to retire at the start of the year. Pecco probably hadn't expected such a result, but he didn't let the opportunity presented by his teammate's mistake slip away, which now allows him to look to the future with his head held a little higher. The Italian is having one of his best starts to the season, arrives at a circuit where he generally performs well, and is perfectly aware of the length of a championship and its inherent uncertainties…

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 TeamWhile they appear in that order in the standings, it was exactly the opposite during the Sprint (4th and 5th) and the Grand Prix (3rd and 4th) in Austin, a very consistent overall performance allowing the team to Valentino Rossi to be ranked 2nd in the team standings.

The first "non-Ducati" rider, rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) is definitely impressive on his Aprilia, despite the setbacks he has to swallow, namely his disqualification in Argentina and his winning bet reduced to nothing in Texas.

7th, Johann Zarco ( CASTROL Honda LCR ) was in top form after a memorable Argentina , but, with a blockage in Q1, good performances from the other Honda riders and Texan results devoid of any points, the North American Texas round proved less positive than its southern counterpart, and will have to be erased, even if the Frenchman was fighting for 7th place before crashing 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 keep an eye on Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), who finished second twice last year…

But of course, the big news is the return of Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) after a disastrous start to the year for the reigning world champion. But be warned! Still recovering and with only 13 laps completed on his RS-GP, let's not expect anything spectacular from the Madrid native! Let's simply hope he gets used to his new bike, without crashing.

 

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 the 19th time under the floodlights. From 2007 to 2022, it hosted the season opener before being moved to a later date in 2023, following renovations to the circuit, including the installation of a new paddock. In 2024, it again hosted the season opener, 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 DiGiannantonio 1 (2023) and Francis Bagnaia 1 (2024) .

10 current riders have reached the podium in MotoGP,  Marc Marquez (5) Francis Bagnaia (3) Maverick Vinales (2) Johann Zarco (2) Brad Binder (2) George Martin (2) Fabio DiGiannantonio (1) Luca marini (1) Enea Bastianini (1) Fabio Quartararo (1).
6 of them have already started in pole position, George 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 Johann Zarco since 2021.

In the last edition in 2024, Francesco Bagnaia won the GP ahead of Brad Binder and Jorge Martin , while Jorge Martin, Brad Binder and Aleix Espargaro made it onto the podium of the Sprint.

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 riders' side, Augusto Fernandez is still in the Pramac box on Miguel Oliveira 's bike , although the latter has made the trip to Qatar.

While we wait to find out more, as the 22 riders prepare for this first 45-minute free practice session under clear skies and temperatures of 30°C in the air and 50°C on the track, let's enjoy these few moments of live coverage thanks to the official MotoGP.com website :

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 DiGiannantonio 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 flying lap, Marc Márquez set the first benchmark in 1'55.312 ahead of Marco Bezzecchi, Jack Miller, Pedro Acosta and Alex Rins.

The picture then takes on a familiar look with Marc Márquez in 1'53.144 ahead of his brother Alex Márquez , the two riders being followed by Joan Mir, Marco Bezzecchi and Francesco Bagnaia.

A little explanation between pilots...

After four laps, having clearly lost none of his style, Jorge Martin returned to his pit box, having been in 16th position. He removed his right glove, under the watchful eye of Dr. Charte.

At the end of the first run, the hierarchy is composed of Marc Marquez, Alex Marquez, 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 Di Giannantonio , who is on an alternative strategy, takes advantage of his opponents' stoppage to move up to fourth position.

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

Just after the halfway point of the session, Marc Márquez posted a time of 1'52.742, then 1'52.388, relegating his brother to more than half a second behind. At that moment, only three riders were 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.

With six minutes to go, few drivers were stopped in their garages and none were switching to soft tires to try and beat the clock, apart from Augusto Fernandez who was then in 21st position.

In quick succession, Marco Bezzecchi also puts on new tires, allowing him to move up to fourth place. Maverick Viñales , in 11th, does the same and soon overtakes him.

Conversely, with 15-lap tires, Marc Márquez goes even further, lighting up all sectors in red before posting a time of 1'52.288.

The session ended with Jack Miller 's minor fall 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: 

Ranking credit: MotoGP.com

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