Commentary

The fight to watch isn’t McLaren vs. McLaren, It’s brother vs. brother

Marc Marquez and his brother Alex are going head to head each and every weekend in MotoGP, and it’s nail-bitingly close.

The motorsport world is currently sitting on the edge of its seat as Formula 1’s Oscar Piastri has become embroiled in a title battle with his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris. The two have traded barbs throughout the season, with Piastri recently edging ahead of his more seasoned team-mate with his win in Saudi Arabia.

And the infighting isn’t likely to stop anytime soon, ensuring fans are treated to some seriously good wheel-to-wheel racing between the papaya-clad racers. Tensions are likely to boil over by the end of the season if this continues, which will make for hellacious TV.

But F1’s McLaren vs. McLaren fight pales in comparison to the practically Shakespearean one occurring in MotoGP. There, it’s not team-mates fighting tit-for-tat at each stop, it’s brother vs. brother in the form of a championship title fight between six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez and his little brother Alex Marquez.

I wonder how their mom is feeling right now?

Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: MotoGP

Marc has been the man to beat for a while. He’s an OG of the sport, having racked up the aforementioned six premier class world championships, countless wins, hundreds of trophies, and the uncanny ability to master a track like nobody’s business. Even in the wet, the man knows how to huck a motorcycle into a corner. And his move to Ducati’s factory team last year, after a series of lackluster years at Honda, and one at Gresini, was seen as his way to secure his seventh MotoGP world title, along with tying his arch rival, former MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi, who has seven titles, too.

Yet, as if parroting the Michael Jordan clip from The Last Dance, Marc’s little brother Alex “took it personally” and started this year with a fire that not many folks saw coming.

Don’t get me wrong, Alex is a top-tier racer. It’s why he’s in MotoGP running. It’s why he’s a part of Ducati’s satellite team, and Marc’s former team, Gresini, who aren’t messing around. But as with those whose siblings have achieved the heights as Marc has, Alex has stood in his older brother’s shadow. Clearly, that’s rubbed him the wrong way.

No longer wishing to play second fiddle to Marc, he’s taken it to his brother at nearly every race this season. And going into this weekend’s race at Jerez in Spain, Alex is on a damn tear, not only going straight into Q2, but blitzing the racetrack’s MotoGP track record with a blistering 1:35.991. That’s nearly a second faster than his brother Marc could manage on Friday.

Marc Marquez, Ducati Team on track at the Americas GP with Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing, not far behind

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Likewise, that lap time is after Alex had two high-speed crashes during practice, as well as the motorcycle racer running a medium tire, while his competition ran softs. Theoretically, Alex should’ve been slower on those. Yet, there was no denying him. And this race may change the balance of power forever.

Currently, Marc leads the championship with 123 points, while Alex sits in second with 106 points. That’s only 17 points separating the two. That’s just a few points more than awarded for a sprint race win, separating the brothers—they’re set to have a sprint, too, in Jerez.

Honestly, as much as everyone’s talking about the McLarens duking it out, the Marquez vs. Marquez battle is far more Old Testament, far more ruthless than the one occurring in F1. It’s a title fight between brothers, which just doesn’t happen in top-tier racing. And the two, being the competitors they are, are making it a show that’s absolutely edge-of-your-seat stuff.