From the Editor’s Desk – August 2023 – The Career-Defining Decision For Marc Márquez.

Ten and a half years ago, a 20 year old, Catalan rookie, who had just signed for the works Repsol Honda MotoGP team, replacing a World Champion and partnering with a teammate who was considered one of the top 3 motorbike racers on the planet, made his debut.

This was no ordinary rookie; this was Marc Márquez.

The 2012, reigning Moto2 Champion, who had won his last race in the class after starting 33rd and last on the grid, joined the MotoGP field with more foreshadowed greatness than any other rider since Valentino Rossi made his debut in 2000. After a 3rd place podium on debut, Marc won his first MotoGP race at round two, and would go on to lead the championship (again) after the German round halfway through the season, and would go on to become the sport’s first rookie Champion since 1978.

His infamous second season saw him win the first 10 races (and 11 of the first 12), set a record points and win tally and become a double champion. In fact, Márquez won 6 out of his first 7 seasons in MotoGP, topped off in 2019 when he scored 420 points. In this season, he only finished races in first (12 times) or second (6 times) place, with only a single retirement blotting a season where he almost doubled the points total of runner-up Andrea Dovisioso.

In 2020, however, things changed. A fall at the first race of the season broke Márquez’s right arm. The break and subsequent surgeries ruled him out until the third round of the following year. He recovered miraculously to win three races that year, on a Honda bike which was one of the slowest on the grid (in 2020, Honda had dropped from 1st to 5th in the constructors, revealing a huge “Márquez factor” masking Honda’s weaknesses behind his success, while other riders struggled).

Crashes and injuries ruled him out of half the 2022 season, and in 2023, Márquez has had a best finish of 12th, with 4 retirements leaving him 19th in the standings and already all but mathematically out of the championship. To say Marc has had a tough few seasons would be one of the biggest understatements in motorsport history and it has left the former Champion at a tough crossroads, whether to remain with Honda and stay loyal to the team and organisation that got him to where he is, or to look elsewhere, or even to look at the previously unthinkable move, retirement?

Top-level motorbike racing is hard. It is hard on a rider’s body, mind, and nerves. How many times can you be flung off your bike at over 100mph, sometimes at over 200mph, before you lose trust that the few inches of rubber in contact with the road will continue to grip that tarmac? How many trips to the hospital to have your body cut open to be fitted with uncomfortable metal plates and bolts, some of which will limit your movement and cause discomfort for the rest of your life, can your brain process? How long before you begin to ask how advisable your line of work actually is? After 17 crashes in 2023 alone, at the time of writing, Marc Márquez must have had some of those questions going through his mind.

If retirement is in Márquez’s thoughts, he would be able to leave the sport with two mindsets: that he was one of the greatest there has ever been, with 59 top-class wins, 64 poles and 59 fastest laps from only 159 starts. If Marc is not on top of the big MotoGP record lists, he is only behind Rossi and Giacomo Agostini, an achievement many believed we would never see again. But, at the same time, there would always be a question of what if? What if he had not been injured over the last four years, what if the Honda had stayed competitive… what if he changed teams?

What if Marc Márquez, a Honda-aligned and supported rider since 2011, switched? Well, let's have a look at the options:

Yamaha

Historically, Yamaha would be the second choice if a top Honda ride was not available, but a lot has changed with the biggest operation on the grid and Yamaha is no longer either the powerhouse nor the attraction they once were. Fabio Quartararo may have somehow won the title in 2021 and followed up with a decent second place in 2022, but in 2023, Yamaha riders aren’t even in the top 10. The works team now also fields the only Yamaha bikes on the grid and, unless things change very soon, I could see the operation closing the MotoGP operation to focus on the World Superbikes. Márquez would enjoy what has historically been an easy, stable bike to ride, but the ultimate lack of out-and-out pace will almost certainly put off his management team from looking at the blue garage, and would a sideways move be what he is looking for, unlikely.

Aprilia

Márquez has never ridden an Aprilia in his Grand Prix career, but the team do have a lot going for it and has reversed its fortunes in recent seasons which could attract someone like Marc Márquez to them. Only 3 years ago the Aprila was fighting the KTM (and the Márquez-less Honda) for the moniker of the worst bike on the grid, but now, the RS-GP has won 2 races with Aleix Espargaró and has had the consistency that the Honda has lacked, along with pace. Aprilia, on paper, could be a perfect fit for Márquez, but the team has never fought at the front of MotoGP for a championship, and the World Superbike success was almost a decade ago now, so you would have to question how the team might cope with the pressures of a season-long challenge.

KTM

Debatably, KTM are the number one target for both Márquez and his management. He was a KTM rider back in his 125cc days and, although he never won for the Austrian marque, he will undoubtedly benefit from a familiar name and operation in Ajo Motorsports, the team Márquez won his 125cc championship with on a Derbi in 2010. KTM are the second-placed marque in MotoGP, with Brad Binder currently 4th in the standings. Plus, KTM historically hate Honda, so stealing away their prized talisman rider would boost the team’s confidence no end. If Márquez can settle in quickly and gain confidence on the RC16, he could begin pushing the potential of himself and the bike once again, with a much smaller gulf to the pacesetters than he currently is on his Honda. But that of course leaves out a big option.

Ducati

“Do Ducati need Marc Márquez?” is the more relevant question in this instance. The Italian marques’ rise to power over the past five seasons has been incredible to watch, but now, with team leader and MotoGP World Champion Francesco Bagnaia leading the works team, and three different Ducati teams in the top 3 positions in the standings, and six of the top 10, Ducati may rightfully feel they have a much stronger hand to play in any negotiations. It is possible also that the Marc Márquez of 2024 or 2025 (depending on the tightness of his Honda contract) is not the “once in a generation” talent he was only a few years ago, and he could be swamped by the younger, healthier, hungrier riders Ducati has in his stable. It could be the running start he needs to get back to the front, but it could also bury his legacy if he struggled to stand out from a huge crowd.

What About Honda?

Which, of course, could leave him at Honda, which might not be the worst thing. As early as the beginning of August, Marc has said to Autosport that his intention is to stay with the team that has brought him to the inner circle of “greatest ever” conversations. He has a firm grip on the reigns within the team, even without major success over the past few seasons. And let’s not forget just how big Honda is. It has more than enough resources and talent in the team to turn the RC213V around, and at this stage, it should. Throw a new engine at it, change the fairing, and improve the electronics to make the bike more consistent and predictable, which is what the riders seem to be struggling with when taking the machine to the limit. Heck, finally replace what has fundamentally been the same bike since 2012. Honda knows it needs wins again and, if Marc still thinks he has a few years in him to see out a rebuilding project, it could flourish for him again.

Ultimately, Marc Márquez needs to look at the whole picture. Himself, his life, his current goals, and his future aspirations both on and off track. The now 30 year old is at a crossroads and it isn’t as simple as pushing the limits harder and everything will be okay like it used to be. The sport is different and he is different from that 20 year old who burst into the sport with fire, speed and aggression which brought the careers of the other great riders of that generation to an early retirement as they realised they could not keep up. Maybe this is the stage Márquez is coming to as well, as the new “next in lines”, on better bikes, take the trophies that used to be marked for Marc. Or maybe, just maybe, there is one final hurrah still to be had.