Alex Márquez And The Veto That Yamaha Imposed On Him In MotoGP After 2015

The world of MotoGP is a very unique place. On the one hand, it can give you so much that one can’t even imagine the limit, but on the other hand, it can also deny and take away those same wonderful things.

So, today we will go through one such case where an absurd claim and veto denied a rider and a team the opportunity to work and achieve greatness.

Alex Marquez, the brother of the great Marc Marquez and, in himself, a great rider, is now becoming a sensational topic of discussion for the MotoGP World and its fans.

This is related to the falling-out Valentino Rossi—then at Yamaha—had with Marc Marquez in 2015 at the Malaysian Grand Prix, when the pair came together in the race a few days after Rossi had accused the Spaniard of conspiring to sabotage his championship hopes.

After that, Yamaha ended their contract with Marc and decided that they would never sign a Marquez again, however talented they may be, only to save Rossi’s place.

After making his debut in MotoGP in 2020 with the factory Honda squad, the 2019 Moto2 champion Alex replaced Jorge Lorenzo after Jorge retired.

The Incident

For that, I had received criticism during my fifth year in Moto2, remarked Alex Marquez.

“For years, I had dreamed about visiting MotoGP. I received a proposal to compete for Petronas Yamaha in MotoGP for a year, or maybe two, in the middle of the year in Brno.

It was a bike I liked, and [in 2019] Fabio Quartararo was leading the battle against Marc. For “x” reasons, it didn’t work out even though I felt it would be ideal for my riding style.

A contract was signed, but Yamaha opposed the move, claiming that “no member of the Marquez family can be in Yamaha,” according to former SRT and RNF team boss Razlan Razali, who confirmed this.

Although initially they were very interested, it was that blame that changed things entirely, remarked Razlani.

Ironically, Rossi was demoted from the factory team in 2021 to make room for Quartararo, who would go on to win the world championship that year, and Alex Marquez moved to LCR Honda.

Marc Marquez, who left Honda with one year remaining on his contract, will rejoin Alex Marquez’s squad at Gresini Ducati, meaning the two will be teammates once more next season.

This can be termed an absurd veto, because how can Honda work and take action on a claim that is not even proven?

It was not at all expected from a team like Yamaha, whose caliber is so much higher than this. And this also denied Alex and Yamaha both a wonderful opportunity to grow together towards greatness. Yamaha is known for nurturing young talents, not for rejecting them just for the sake of glory.

Especially now that Rossi has retired, they can surely neglect the veto and make something work out because Yamaha is a place for unique talents, and Alex Marquez is surely a unique and rare talent, just like his brother Marc.