Marc Márquez brought a lighter tone to the Qatar GP with two pointed exchanges involving Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martín. The first came shortly before the press conference, when Bezzecchi teased Márquez about making the trip to Qatar. “So you came in the end...”, Bezzecchi told him, referring to Márquez’s earlier opposition to travelling for the event.

Márquez answered with a joke about the championship stakes: “There was no other way, otherwise they would give you free points!” He also said during the same press conference that he had arrived on the last plane and would leave on the first. The remark underlined his intention to keep his stay in Qatar as short as possible, while the exchange turned a question about his attendance into friendly banter between rivals.

The second moment concerned Jorge Martín. Martín had said that Márquez was the only rider who could win or lose the world championship. When that comment was put to Márquez, he replied: “They were the only ones who could lose it.” Both exchanges were recorded on video, offering a personal and playful counterpoint to the serious championship discussion surrounding the Qatar weekend.