Dani's experience will keep it a close intra-team affair. His weakness is his injury laden career. Although Pedrosa has a pretty good accident record most of his crashes have been bone breakers and he is carrying that legacy for the rest of his career. Marquez on the other hand has had remarkable luck. Having had a few more accidents he has somehow managed to bounce like a rubber ball and come away largely unscathed. I've watched both of them progress from their earliest forays in motorcycle GP racing and their records in the junior categories are quite similar although Marquez has the edge on Dani (and Vale' for that matter). I have no doubt that he is a champion of the future. How soon will depend on how well the factory Honda's and Yamaha's stack up against each other over the whole season.
Yamaha and Honda have very different characteristics suited to quite different types of circuit. The Yamaha appears to be stronger through high speed turns, and better stability under braking. The Honda seems to have better turn in on entry and traction on exit of low gear corners along with better top speed. Honda may finally have sorted out the front end instability issues that have wrestled with quite a few seasons. Both Pedrosa and Marquez looked rock steady this weekend on a track with a lot of elevation change and a couple very challenging off-camber turns.
Some of the circuits on the calendar are likely to play into the hands of Rossi and Lorenzo big time. It's perfectly feasible for Marquez to grab the title if he can consistently score, beat Pedrosa a few times more and thrash the Yamaha's on their favoured tracks. Although I'd be reluctant to put money on it, I suspect Marc will win the team-mate battle this year. but Lorenzo has grown up, has lost that arrogance that gave him his "snooty" reputation and has matured into one of the finest riders of the modern era. If I were a betting man I would put my money on him to take away another title.
One of the Alien's has left the room. With Marquez we still have four in the house. Having said all of the above, Rossi is on a comeback after languishing with Ducati so neither he nor Dani can be counted out.