The debate about which rider starting the 2024 season with Ducati had an advantage continues, though it had quieted for a few months when Ducati announced Francesco Bagnaia’s new teammate.

Enea Bastianini’s slow start to the season left Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez as the only contenders, with Marquez securing the spot without much doubt. Ducati also shared a key reason for choosing Marquez, who, at the time of the decision, hadn’t yet won a race. The reason was his impressive performance on the 2023 bike, which, on paper, was considered inferior to this year’s model.

"The Ducati engineers saw my progression with the 2023 bike; that was the deciding factor," Marquez said after being confirmed as a factory rider for next year. "Gigi [Dall'Igna, Ducati's general manager] said what tipped the balance was what I demonstrated on the track—my improvement and ability to get better."

Dall'Igna acknowledged that the GP24 can be seen as an improvement over its older models, but some still downplay the differences. "We have definitely enhanced the GP24 in areas where the GP23 was lacking," Dall'Igna said in August at the British Grand Prix, where Ducati introduced their final updates before halting development to let Bagnaia and Martin fight for the title. "The factory team has done an excellent job," he added.

An analysis of both models' performance, along with comparisons to last year’s championship, supports Dall'Igna’s claims and puts the debate to rest. Among the four riders on the GP23, only Marquez has managed to keep up with those on the GP24, particularly in the second half of the season. A comparison between the GP22’s results in 2023 and the GP23’s in 2024 shows that the performance gap between the 2024 and 2023 bikes is significantly larger.

In 2023, four riders on the older GP22 claimed a total of four victories, 13 podiums, and three pole positions, along with 15 front-row starts. These four wins represented 23% of Ducati’s 17 total wins. Notably, all four riders stood on the podium at least once, and each earned a front-row start.

In contrast, the performance of the GP23 in 2024 has been less impressive. So far, only Marquez has kept the GP23 competitive, winning two races and securing eight podiums.