Surprising many, Marc Márquez switched from Repsol Honda to Gresini for the 2024 MotoGP season. For the first time he competes in a satellite team, earns much less money than before, but has a Ducati bike – one of the most competitive in the current grid, unlike Honda. Randy Mamola believes that the sporting aspect and ambition were the decisive factors for Marc Márquez’s decision.
The former rider recalled other bold team changes in MotoGP history, like when Valentino Rossi moved from Yamaha to Ducati, and then commented:
– Can you imagine Marc and Álex [Márquez] having a coffee conversation at the bar last year? You can’t tell me Marc didn’t say, “what do you think?”. And don’t tell me Álex didn’t say, “it’s incredible”. So, what would that do to you as an eight-time world champion?
Mamola has no doubt that Honda tried everything to keep Marc Márquez from leaving, but he believes that the monetary issue was secondary for the rider: ‘It’s obvious that Honda pressured until the end to try to keep him. Money, when we talk about a world champion like Marc, means nothing; it’s about pride and winning. We know Marc’s level in the past, and we know what happened with the surgery, he had to make a change and this was his decision‘.
