"Scary" Marco Bezzecchi MotoGP warning issued as Saturday issues contrast Sunday dominance

A perfect Sunday score of 75 points has carried Marco Bezzecchi into the MotoGP World Championship lead after the opening three rounds.

But it’s been a very different situation on Saturdays, where the factory Aprilia rider is only ranked tenth-best for Sprint points this season.

Bezzecchi has scored just six out of a possible 36 points after crashing from the early Sprint lead in Buriram, then again while chasing Pecco Bagnaia for victory at COTA.

Those mistakes cost Bezzecchi a potential 24 points and mean his only Sprint score came from a fourth place in Goiania.

“Marco was perfect again on Sunday; we just need to fix Saturday,” Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola acknowledged at COTA.

“He's the Sunday man but as soon as he also becomes the Saturday man, it will definitely be scary,” Rivola added.

Had Bezzecchi secured at least seven out of those 24 ‘lost’ Saturday points, he would have set a record for most points from the opening three rounds of the season.

MotoGP world championship leader after three rounds (Sprint era):

2026: Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) 81 points.
2025: Alex Marquez (Ducati) 87 points.
2024: Jorge Martin (Ducati) 80 points.
2023: Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati) 64 points.

By contrast, Bezzecchi’s team-mate Jorge Martin - MotoGP’s most successful Sprint rider - has been the highest scoring ‘Saturday’ rider so far with 24 points, headlined by a debut Aprilia victory in COTA.

Despite crashing in Texas, reigning champion Marc Marquez would still have matched Martin’s Sprint points total without the penalty in Buriram.

Marquez sits three places higher in the Sprint rankings than his overall riders’ championship position with factory Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia also performing better on Saturdays, ranking four places higher in Sprint points than in the actual standings.

KTM’s Pedro Acosta (third) and Gresini’s Alex Marquez (eighth) are the only riders in the world championship top ten to hold the same respective position for Sprint scores:

Grand Prix only points

Six of the top eight riders in grand prix only points mirror the overall championship order, with only Marc Marquez and Raul Fernandez swapping places.

The biggest discrepancy is for Bagnaia, who ranks only twelfth for Sunday points but sits ninth in the overall standings thanks to his Saturday form.