To borrow an old truism of boxing, styles make fights.
And in the case of the Balaton Park circuit set to play host to the first Hungarian Grand Prix in 33 years this weekend, that style is slow, narrow and tight.
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After MotoGP visited the Red Bull Ring in Austria last weekend – all high-speed straights into big braking zones into 90-degree corners – the series heads to a brand-new circuit an hour outside Budapest for round 14 of the season, and one where there’s many more questions than answers.
Is the 4.1km track too slow for MotoGP? Is it wide enough? Is the first sequence of corners – a heavy braking stop at turn one that leads into a right-hander that almost turns back completely on itself before a swoop left through the following three corners – safe enough, particularly after the first World Superbikes race there last month began with a six-bike pile-up on the opening lap that caused a red flag?
Top speeds will be low, familiarity for most will be non-existent, and adaptability will be the name of the game. And in the modern-day MotoGP era from 2002, one man has historically adapted faster than most.
Marc Marquez arrives in Hungary off six straight sprint/Grand Prix doubles from Aragon to Austria; the last time he didn’t cross the line in first place was the main race at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix in late May. Three times in his career – the Circuit of the Americas in Texas in 2013 (his maiden Grand Prix win), Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina (2014) and Buriram in Thailand (2018), Marquez has crossed the line first when MotoGP first visited a new track.
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The most recent new track on the calendar – the Buddh International Circuit in India that was visited for what looks set to be the one and only time in 2023 – was conquered by Marquez’s Austrian GP rival Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia), while of the other riders on the current grid, only Pramac Yamaha’s Miguel Oliveira (Portugal 2020 and Indonesia 2022) has won when MotoGP visits pastures new for the first time.
As 2025 has shown, Marquez doesn’t need any help to rack up race wins, but Ducati left no stone unturned for the first visit by the sport to Hungary since 1992, sending all six of its race riders and test rider Michele Pirro to Balaton Park with seven Ducati Panigale superbikes to cut laps around the track during the recent mid-season break.
Opinions were mixed, Marquez diplomatically emphasising “in 22 races, we need to have different layouts”, but Fabio Di Giannantonio commenting “some places are pretty tight”.
Marquez’s teammate Francesco Bagnaia – who comes to Hungary after a miserable weekend in Austria where he retired from the sprint race and finished eighth in the Grand Prix to fall 197 points adrift of the championship lead – felt the safety concerns were overblown, predicting the MotoGP bikes won’t even use sixth gear. “I think we are going so slow that safety is not a problem,” he said.
Given the Italian’s struggles this season – he’s won one race while his teammate is up to 21 and counting – a change from the norm can only have potential to be positive. Whether an unfamiliar circuit is enough to break a familiar pattern remains to be seen, but Hungary at least offers a level – slow, narrow and tight, but level nonetheless – playing field.
Here’s your Insider’s Guide to round 14 of the MotoGP season, with the 26-lap Hungarian Grand Prix set for 10pm AEST on Sunday after the 13-lap sprint race at 11pm Saturday AEST.
USE ME OR LOSE ME: MILLER RUNNING OUT OF PATIENCE WITH YAMAHA
Jack Miller’s frustration with being in contract limbo for 2026 escalated on Thursday in Hungary, the Australian indicating he’ll “move forwards on other options” outside of MotoGP should Yamaha not elect to sign him for a second season next year.
At the Italian Grand Prix in June, Yamaha Motor Racing managing director Paolo Pavesio said the confirmation of who would partner incoming World Superbikes star Toprak Razgatlioglu for 2026 would come “before the summer break”, which began after the Czech Republic Grand Prix at Brno on July 20.
Over a month later, neither Miller – out of contract at the end of this season – nor Pramac teammate Oliveira, who has a deal for 2026 but with an option on Yamaha’s side – are any wiser about their futures, and Miller’s patience is wearing thin.
With news emerging in the lead-up to the Hungarian Grand Prix that rising Moto2 star Diogo Moreira is likely to enter MotoGP next year with Honda – the Brazilian was in the frame at Yamaha – Miller has a stronger claim on retaining his seat, given he’s outscored Oliveira 52-6 and outqualified him 9-1 on the same bike this season.
Asked if he was any closer to knowing his 2026 plans, Miller replied: “Your guess is as good as mine at the moment in terms of what [Yamaha’s] strategy is and what they plan on doing.”
PIT TALK PODCAST: Marquez salutes and Yamaha slumps in Austria, but what’s on the cards for a brand-new track in Hungary? Listen to Pit Talk below.
“I have options, and I’m going to move forwards on other options if it doesn’t come quickly,” he added.
When quizzed on whether those options are outside of MotoGP – Miller has been linked with a role at Ducati’s World Superbike team – the 30-year-old answered in the affirmative.
“Yes, it’s clear there are no other availabilities [in MotoGP],” he said.
“I have a deadline in my mind … I’m not telling you guys, but myself personally, I have a deadline. I’ve been more than patient enough. If you want me, you want me. If you don’t, you don’t. It’s as clear as that. The more time that goes on, I feel that way.
“I was looking forward to developing the V4 [engine] and working with them closely to try to help them, I feel like I have a lot of information to give and a lot of input and can help with a project like that.
“If they cannot see the value in that, then I understand and I will move on and do something different.”
Earlier this week, Autosport reported that Moreira, 21, is likely to be offered full factory rider status and a three-year deal with Honda as Brazil looks set for its first rider on the grid since Alex Barros in 2007. The sport will return to Brazil for the first time since 2004 next season, with Goiania hosting round two of the season from March 20-22.
Oliveira, too, is in the dark with Yamaha’s plans.
“I have no news about the future,” the Portuguese rider said.
“I hope that after this race we will have something else to comment about, but at this moment I’m just focused on my job in the team, doing the best I can, which will be the same approach before and after any decision.”
NOT BETTER, BUT DIFFERENT: MARQUEZ ON 2025 DOMINANCE
Runaway world championship leader Marc Marquez feels the 2025 version of the rider who won the first of his six MotoGP titles 12 years ago is “different” as opposed to better, as he enters the Hungarian weekend on his best run of form since 2014.
Marquez won his sixth straight Grand Prix last Sunday in Austria, his longest winning streak since he won the first 10 races of the 2014 season, and has won all six sprint races from Aragon to Austria as well; of the 26 races held across sprints and Grands Prix this season, there’s only five that he’s not won.
With a 142-point series lead over younger brother Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati), Marc Marquez wasn’t sure if his present is better than his decorated past.
“Different versions … in 2019, it was different,” he said of his most recent championship season, where he finished first or second in 18 of the 19 races.
“Maybe the way I did the time attacks, the way I was fast immediately, or the way I approached the races was more aggressive [in the past]. Now, I’m riding in a different way, smoother, and just try to use more the experience.
“What I know is that I’m with the best bike with the best team, and it’s in my hands to win races and to achieve my main goal, which is the world championship.”
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That road to the title has been made easier by younger sibling Alex, who is enjoying by far the best season of his six-year MotoGP career, enduring a barren run of form and fortune that has seen him drop 102 points to his big brother in the past four rounds.
At the Dutch Grand Prix, a coming-together with KTM’s Pedro Acosta saw Marquez fall and break a bone in his left hand, while in the Czech Republic, he crashed out with compatriot Joan Mir (Honda) early in the Grand Prix and was forced to serve a long-lap penalty for last Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix as a result, which dropped him out of podium contention to a 10th-place finish.
“We had the speed all the weekend, top four in all the sessions, but the long-lap [penalty] was so long, I lose 3.6 [seconds], and then I started to have some problems with the slipstreams and I didn’t feel to go for it and recover all the positions,” Alex Marquez said.
“At that moment I felt ‘I needed to finish the race’ because there was the possibility to gain one, two points more – but then if you crash, you lose much more.
“I’m looking forward to have a normal weekend, it will be important … the last four weekends have been quite difficult, so here we arrive with my injury recovered, no penalties, so looking to make a good result.”
BROTHERS IN, THEN BROTHER OUT AS AUSSIE SIDELINED
A pre-event cycling accident has ruled Spanish rider Aleix Espargaro out of a substitute appearance for Honda at the 11th hour, with the injury curse that has followed the second seat at the satellite LCR team continuing for another race weekend.
Regular rider Somkiat Chantra hasn’t raced since the Dutch Grand Prix in June after suffering a right knee injury in training, while the Thai rookie’s replacement in the Czech Republic, Takaaki Nakagami, suffered a right knee injury of his own when he was taken out in the sprint race at Brno by Yamaha wildcard Augusto Fernandez.
Espargaro, who was set to join Johann Zarco at LCR this weekend, was ruled out on Thursday when news emerged the 36-year-old had “severe back pain” from a cycling spill earlier this week.
Espargaro’s younger sibling Pol Espargaro will stand in at Tech3 KTM for Maverick Vinales, who pulled out of last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix after qualifying as the effects of his left shoulder injury after his heavy crash in the German Grand Prix in July linger. The 34-year-old Espargaro finished ninth on his only previous appearance of 2025 in the Czech Republic.
In Moto2, Australian Senna Agius will sit out of the Balaton Park round after he was hurt in last Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, the 20-year-old suffering head and neck injuries in a first-lap crash when he fell and was then run over by Spanish rider Alonso Lopez.
The 2025 British Grand Prix winner was taken to a trackside hospital and then flown to Barcelona for more medical checks, and is aiming to be back at the next round in Catalunya from September 5-7. Two-time Moto2 race-winner Sergio Garcia will deputise for Agius at the Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP team.