Our experts have stated their arguments for which rider will win the 2025 MotoGP championship...

Alex Whitworth: It seems likely that the battle for the 2024 MotoGP💮 title will come down to the two factory Ducati riders, Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia, such was the Italian brand’s dominance in ൲2024, and the reduction in talent that exists in its satellite teams this year.

While Bagnaia is the most successful rider✃ in the championship over t♏he past four seasons, Marquez is the best rider in the sport’s history.

It was Bagnaia’s propensity to make mistakes that cost him the title last year, but going up against a rider who has more raw talent, more aggression, and per♚haps even more racing intelligence than him will be a difficult challenge to overcome.

It’s not iไmpossible that Bagnaia wins the title, but Marquez should beat him.

Wit🐲h better speed than Bagnaia, more experience, and a better ability to manage a championship, the key to Marquez’s success in 2025 will clearly be staying fit, something he managed tꦏhroughout 2024 for the first time since 2019.

The likelihood is he beats Bagnaia the majority of the times they line-up on the grid togeth✅er, but Marquez’s speed will count for nothing if he’s sat on the couch.

Lewis Duncan: This year’s world championship battle is one of the mor🐎e intriguing of the last few years as it’s the first time since 2019 that we see Marc Marquez with a genuine chance at the title.

His rebuilding year at Gresini in 2024 yielded three gr🐼ands prix victories. And on ageing GP23 machinery, he was consistently in the podium hunt. Going up against Ducati’s best rider ever, at l♍east in terms of statistics, in Francesco Bagnaia won’t be as big of a walkover as people think.

But Bagnaia has shown to be inconsistent in all of the years he has fought for the title, whereas Marquez only had two of his sixth premier class crowns taken to final round sh♛owdowns over the years.

As Jorge Martin proved in 2024, consistency in this sprint/grand prix era is more important than out and out speed. If we look at Marquez’s last world title in 2019, he won 12 times and finished second in every other race - registering just a single DNF a🐭ll year.

In his interview with 's MotoGP Podcast, Marquez’s 2024 crew chief Frankie Carchedi was brimming with𓂃 confidence in predicting the eight-time world champion to be the reference rider this season.

If t♏hat isn’t enough to convince you, I don’t know what is.

Jordan Moreland: In my opinion, the 2025🧔 championship battle is set to be between t🧸wo people. 

They both ride for Ducati and they are both in the same team, that wou🍰ld be Pecco Bagnaia & Marc Marquez of course. I think Ducati's advantage is so great that these two will pull away from the rest and battle it out for top honours. 

Bagnaꦏia's 2024 was outstanding, despite the 8 DNFs throughout the season, winning 11 Grands Prix is truly special. He is facing his biggest challenge in 2025 and 2026 with Marc Marquez as his teammat💞e. 

Marquez dispelled any doubts about his talent in 2024 by taking 3 Grand Prix wins and 20 podiums on the year-old GP23. Give🎃n the fact he will be on the latest spec♚ Ducati and back into the factory team environment, I am expecting Marquez to raise his level even more and I think it will prove too much for Pecco in the end. 

I hope it is a close fight as the spo🌠rt needs it and it wou🍸ld be fascinating to see the team dynamic as 2025 progresses. 

So for me, Marquez will be the 2025 MotoGP World Champion and th♕e key to that will be relentless desire to win another title. Wouldn't it be great to see him do it after everything♌ he has been through with injury since 2020.

Peter McLaren: The two Ducati Lenovo riders should be the clear title favourites, but we haven’t seen the full GP25 y🍰et. The prototype version didn’t blow the comp🔯etition away at the Barcelona test, which provides hope for Ducati’s rivals (and satellite GP24 riders).

However, Ducati usually focuses on the new engine first, especiallyꩵ with a two-year freeze starting, then works on the chassis and aero. So the GP25 could make big steps during the Sepang and Buriram tests.

The key to success for Francesco Bagnaia will be ironing out last year’s mistakes, retaining his race winning speed and not being distracted by the arrival ofꦅ Marc Marquez.

For Marquez, the question is how quickly he can adapt to the new enviꦬronment, arriving in another champion’s team for the first time, and his relationship wi🌱th new crew chief Marco Rigamonti.

Marquez has said “I will try to get closer to [Pecco] because he is the reference” at Ducati and “the one who calls the shots this pre-season and in the first few races”. I’d agree with that for now, meaning Pecco is the favourite ahead of te🔴sting and the opening rounds, but it could all change very quickly.

Derry Munikartono: I think it's going to be Marc Marquez.

After reviving his career with Gresin🍒i Ducati, winning three Grand Prix despite having one-year old bike bike last year, Marc know that he still got what it takes to be world c🥃hampion again in MotoGP, all he need is the best bike and the best team – which he already had with promotion to Ducati Lenovo in 2025.

B🐽ut to achieve that, he needs to beat his team-mate, Francesco Bagnaia, who already nested down in Ducati. Not a simple task, as Marc admitted Pecco would be the ‘main man’ of the team in t🌞he earlier phase of the season.

T🍸here would be some ‘tense’ moments between those two riders during the season, but I think Marquez would have a slight edge♛ from Bagnaia in the 2025 MotoGP title fights.

Consistency would play a big role, and seeing how shaky Bagnaia’s 2024 season🍌 was – 11 Grand Prix but no title because of 8 non-scoring results – I think Marc would win the title in the slightest of margin.