Back in the fight? Our verdict on Marquez's MotoGP title chances

Marc Marquez's double win at the Hungarian Grand Prix has slashed his deficit to MotoGP world championship leader Marco Bezzecchi from 102 points to 72, with 14 rounds still to go.

Is Marquez genuinely back in the title fight despite his poor start to the year and injury absence?

Or was Balaton a deceptive weekend skewed by Aprilia's first-corner catastrophe?

Our MotoGP team have their say.

This is now winnable for Marquez

Simon Patterson

I've had my suspicions for a while that we hadn't seen the last of Marquez in the 2026 MotoGP title fight, and Balaton Park hasn't done anything to dissuade me of that notion, thanks to both his own actions and those of his title rivals at Aprilia that means suddenly he has all the momentum again.

As soon as it became apparent that the reason for his slow start to the season was not a general decline in form post-serious shoulder injury but rather a particular complaint that could be (and now has been) addressed with surgery, it became game on again for Marquez, especially with an awful long way to go in the 2026 season.

There's still 518 points left to play for, meaning he only has to outscore Aprilia's championship leader Bezzecchi by just over five points on average every weekend to win the title - and if Bezzecchi and his team-mate Martin keep self-destructing like they did on Sunday, it's not going to be a big ask.

The first people that the Aprilia duo were always going to have to beat to win a title was not Marquez but themselves, between stupid crashes, bad sprint race performances, and silly errors. That has to stop now, if either of them - and the team - want a #1 plate to take home to the Noale factory.

This might simplify Aprilia's task

Val Khorounzhiy

There is no sugarcoating the fact that giving up 25 points in a single day to Marquez is bad-bad-bad, but an unintended side effect - and perhaps a positive one for Aprilia - is a reframing of the battle between its two riders.

Both Martin and Bezzecchi suffered last weekend, performance-wise, but Martin certainly suffered more. Even Bezzecchi's extremely messy Q2 was not enough to relegate him behind his team-mate on the grid, and in normal circumstances he would've likely beaten Martin on Sunday.

He will, in any case, expect to extend his advantage over Martin at Brno now that his team-mate is carrying a double long-lap penalty.

Just a couple of rounds ago Martin was nibbling on Bezzecchi's heels and, perhaps rightfully, getting irritated at Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez over his act of interference in the title battle at Barcelona.

But now Martin, who is joining Yamaha next year, is in the proverbial 'doghouse' and Bezzecchi, who has renewed his contract with Aprilia, is the wronged party.

There won't be any team orders any time soon, nor would Martin accept any, but things might be simpler if Bezzecchi has a points buffer to play with - and if Martin is left feeling less emboldened and more subservient to Aprilia's greater good of bringing home a riders' title.

Balaton win will have a big effect on Marquez

Jordan Moreland

The Balaton win was so significant for Marquez, both mentally and personally.

He talked about how it was an "expensive" win in the context of the journey just to get back to the top in MotoGP after his Mandalika 2025 injury.

I recently watched the Rafael Nadal Netflix series and it parlays how his constant fight with injury, recovery and winning all drove him to never give in. Nadal never wanted to let anyone down, whether it was his close inner circle or fans around the world. He had to keep up the image of being 'Rafael Nadal' and never quitting when, clearly, he was battling a lot of injuries and inner demons.

Marquez is very similar to that: he never quits and his mental fortitude is something we may never see again in MotoGP.

He knew last weekend was a chance to win and secure grand prix victory number 100, but he didn't let the media know he thought the win was achievable. In fact, he told everyone on Thursday to forget about his chances of even fighting for a podium at Balaton!

The significance of this win will prove to him that the physical stress that he has put his body through, with surgery, recovery, surgery and then recovery again, was ultimately worth it.

It's not just the crash that's weakened Martin's bid

Eden Hannigan

I always say to write Marquez off at your own peril, but even I have fallen victim to doing that given the points missed during his injury layoff after his sprint crash at Le Mans.

Marquez's level at Balaton Park has set the cat amongst the pigeons once more, but at this moment in time, I'm still backing Aprilia, even if I've swapped expectations on which rider I think will win.

After he got back to one point off Bezzecchi, I was backing Martin to become a double MotoGP world champion, thinking that his short-format superiority and his title fight experience would pull through and that his qualifying pace would make some kind of a comeback.

It hasn't though, which is a massive blow to the Martin agenda. As is taking out his championship-leading team-mate by trying to win Sunday's race at the first corner.

Bezzecchi would have a right to be livid, as not even he would've expected his phenomenal Sunday streak to be ended in such a way - though he has also left points on the table with crashes of his own accord.

Whether this incident becomes a sticking point in this season remains to be seen, but they cannot afford a repeat of this, especially not if Marquez is fighting fit for the rest of the campaign.

Aprilia could be left with a lot to regret

Matt Beer

Marquez's 2026 Hungarian GP win was exactly one year on from Marquez's 2025 Aragon sprint win. That sprint win was the start of a run of seven consecutive 37-pointers. Seven race weekends where he was unbeatable across sprint and grand prix, and took a maximum score of 259 points. Next highest-score in that period? Bezzecchi with 128. A 131-point deficit.

Let's do more maths. There are an enormous 14 rounds left in the 2026 MotoGP season. Across the first 14 rounds of 2025, Marquez scored 455 points. Next best in that time, Alex Marquez on 280. A 175-point deficit.

This is a fit Marquez, on a Ducati. Dominant streaks like those can never be ruled out.

A 72-point gap is not big enough for comfort when this rider hits his stride.

And while on balance the Aprilia is still 2026's best bike, it never looked like it could win during the Balaton weekend. It can't afford races like that now.