Alex Marquez and Jack Miller were slapped with Hungary MotoGP grid penalties following an incident during Friday’s practice at Balaton Park.
The FIM MotoGP Stewards handed each rider a three-place grid penalty for slow riding on the racing line during the crucial final stages of Friday afternoon’s practice session, which impeded other riders notably Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
Marquez was specifically penalized for obstructing both Miller and Bagnaia at Turns 3 and 4, while Miller was penalized for impeding Bagnaia at Turn 3.
This marked a first infraction for both riders in this regard, yet the governing body acted decisively given the impact of their conduct on race progression.
The incident unfolded after Alex Marquez tried to overtake Fabio di Giannantonio at the end of the previous lap, but his Ducati stablemate was preparing for his own push lap and opted to speed up, effectively ruining Alex’s lap.
Marquez later caught Di Giannantonio’s slipstream into Turn 1 and lost another lap which visibly led to frustration as the Gresini rider gestured in the distance, causing him to get in Miller’s way.
Despite the penalty, Marquez was the third-fastest at the end of the day’s practice, trailing KTM’s Pedro Acosta and his brother, Marc Marquez.
Marquez who currently holds second place in the 2025 MotoGP rider standings entered the Hungarian weekend hoping for a clean race weekend after serving a long lap penalty at the previous Austrian Grand Prix.
Pedro Acosta paces Balaton Park MotoGP practice 2 ahead of Marc Marquez
2025 Hungary MotoGP Practice Results – Balaton Park
Following the confirmation of their Hungary MotoGP grid penalties, the Spanish rider expressed his frustration, attributing the incident partly to being impeded himself during his flying lap attempt.
“All that incident started on my flying lap,” Marquez explained. “I was going really, really fast but in T4 I found Jack there stopped, trying to follow somebody and also Diggia preparing his flying lap.
“So they actually impeded me especially Diggia. And from the moment, in T1-T2 I was just trying to be close to the side of the track and not block anybody.
“But looks like I got in Jack’s way a little bit, or it’s what he thinks. So he was complaining to me, but he forgot that other riders were coming, like Pecco.
“It’s also true that when it’s a new track, everybody’s trying to find some slipstreams and it’s difficult to know which area is better to avoid being in the middle of somebody.”
The incident turned out to be a blame game as Jack Miller who finished the session further down in 17th place, claimed Alex was at fault.
“I understand he’d be sort of ticked off at Diggia,” explained Miller. “I saw him into the last chicane, I think, and he had to pull up stumps pretty clear.
“He sort of half-went for a pass and then realised that Diggia was going in there full pace and it isn’t going to work – so then the rear tyre was off the ground. It messed his lap up, 100 percent. And then I understand he was frustrated.
“He started waving his arms about and whatnot, but forgot where he was a little bit. Unfortunately it was in the middle of the track, I couldn’t do nothing about it.”
Miller’s situation adds further context to the weekend’s disciplinary backdrop. At the preceding Austrian MotoGP, he faced a heavy penalty for riding with a technical fault – his bike emitting smoke while on track during practice.
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