Pedro Acosta says he has deliberately kept his distance from fellow MotoGP riders because he believes close friendships can make it harder to compete without hesitation on track.
The KTM rider, who will leave the Austrian manufacturer at the end of the 2026 season for a move to Ducati’s factory team, admitted that he has never built close friendships within the MotoGP paddock.
For Acosta, that distance is not necessarily a negative. He believes it allows him to race his rivals without worrying about personal relationships when the battle begins.
“I’ve never had friends in the paddock, and I’m glad that’s the case because, that way, I don’t have any qualms about overtaking anyone,” Acosta said in an interview with Motorsport.com.
The 21-year-old acknowledged that most riders maintain friendly relationships with one another, but he struggles to see how genuine friendships can exist when everyone is ultimately chasing the same goal.
“We’re all here chasing the same dream, and it’s very difficult to have a sincere relationship with someone who wants exactly the same thing as you,” he explained.
Acosta believes MotoGP may even be missing some of the intense rivalries that once defined the championship.
He pointed to famous battles involving Valentino Rossi and Max Biaggi, Mick Doohan and Alex Criville, as well as Rossi and Marc Marquez, where relationships between competitors were far from cordial.
“Maybe that’s the spicy ingredient MotoGP is missing right now,” Acosta said.
His comments come as he prepares for one of the biggest changes of his young career.
After six seasons under the KTM umbrella, Acosta will join Ducati’s factory team in 2027 and share a garage with six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez.
Source: AutoRacing
Rather than seeing the move as a source of pressure, Acosta views it as an opportunity to remove any doubts about his ability.
The Spaniard has yet to win a MotoGP race despite establishing himself as one of the premier class’s leading young riders. He said he is actually looking forward to joining Ducati because, if results do not come, he will have fewer reasons to blame circumstances outside his control.
“Maybe next year that will happen, there won’t be any excuses, and if things don’t go well it will be my fault,” Acosta said.
He also admitted that his frustration with KTM played a major role in his decision to leave. Acosta said he had believed in the project for three years and repeatedly gave the team opportunities to deliver a competitive bike, but eventually felt he needed a fresh challenge.
Since arriving in MotoGP, Acosta has often been KTM’s leading rider, but the manufacturer’s technical struggles have limited his ability to fight consistently for victories.
That experience has also changed the way he views his own performances. After struggling with crashes in 2025, Acosta said he previously blamed himself whenever he failed to win. He eventually realised that he was sometimes demanding more from the KTM than the bike was capable of delivering.
That change in mindset has helped him become more consistent this season, even though KTM endured significant technical difficulties during the first half of the year.
Acosta also remains respectful of what KTM has given him. The manufacturer helped him win the Moto3 world title and provided the platform for his rise through Moto2 and into MotoGP.
However, he believes the time has come to test himself somewhere new.
Next year, that test will come at Ducati, where he will have the opportunity to measure himself directly against Marquez while riding what is currently considered the benchmark machinery on the grid.
Acosta says he does not yet know what awaits him in the Ducati garage, but he has no intention of putting unnecessary pressure on himself.
With at least two years secured with the factory team, he believes the first season can be used to adapt before setting his sights even higher.
For now, though, his priority remains finishing his KTM chapter strongly and continuing his pursuit of the one achievement still missing from his CV: a first MotoGP victory.
