Marc Márquez will make his debut this weekend for Gresini in MotoGP. The Qatar GP is the first for the Spanish rider in this new adventure, where he has encountered many unknown aspects since the pre-season.
The six-time world champion of the premier class explained in a press conference that he is looking to adapt to what is available at Gresini and, if it doesn’t work out, then there will have to be a compromise: ‘It is clear that it is a completely different job in a factory team or a satellite team. It is true that first of all, when I arrived, I tried to adapt to the bike and the team. Because in the end, you can’t just come to a team and change things to your liking. First of all, I like to try what they are doing and then, step by step, if I see something in another team or maybe in other types of strategies that I feel better with, I tell them, we discuss and find a compromise. But this is something I need to learn especially during the first GPs – because the way they work in the garage is always very similar, but the tire strategy, fuel strategy, various things, electronics, are different and we need to understand. And I need to understand, to adapt and then if in some races I am not able to adapt well, then we will start to find a compromise. But at the moment, with that bike, with that team, other riders have won races, so they are doing a good job‘.
After a preseason very different from what he was used to in the Honda factory team, Márquez continues to have to learn, but even ruling out the fight for top positions, he assured that he is comfortable: ‘Of course it was a completely different preseason, because I was used to riding just to try out things for the bikes and develop the bike, but this winter was the complete opposite: I was focused on myself, trying to adapt my riding style to the new bike, and from the beginning I didn’t feel bad – there are still many things to learn and many things to improve, especially learning from the top riders within Ducati. At the moment I feel comfortable – not prepared to fight for the podium, not prepared to fight for victory. But step by step we need to create the foundation and try to understand during the competition weekends where we stand‘.
