Marc Márquez begins a new phase of his MotoGP career this year with Gresini, riding a Ducati Desmosedici GP23. The rider wants to regain his competitiveness after facing numerous adversities in recent years, but he is cautious and understands that it will be a gradual process, contrary to expectations that even place him as one of the title contenders.
In a press conference, the Spaniard stated: ‘It’s true the expectations are super high, but I know what I passed these last four years, I know where I’m coming from, I know where I intend to arrive, but I need my time, and no rush. I don’t intend to arrive here and try to win from the beginning because it would be a huge mistake. Especially because in the last two years I wasn’t able to win even a single race. So, first of all I need to create a base. I arrive to a manufacturer where are two/three guys – especially Pecco [Bagnaia], [Jorge] Martín, [Enea] Bastianini – who are riding super fast this bike, they know it super well. And I need to learn from them. I try to learn and I try to adapt my riding style to them’.
Furthermore, Márquez acknowledged that there is a natural decline in performance with age in athletes, and he will have to learn from the younger ones: ‘We cannot forget that every athlete has his moment and then starts to drop. And then in that drop you need to work harder and harder to keep flat. But young guys arrive like Fabio [Quartararo] in his first year with Petronas, now Pedro [Acosta], Pecco, Martín, who are riding fast. So I need to learn from the younger riders and try to keep that level as longer as possilbe’.
It is this drop and other questions that Márquez wants answered in 2024, a year in which he aims to be competitive again – which does not necessarily mean being a champion or fighting for the desired results from the start: ‘If I start to go down? I will understand this year. Last year I was suffering, but even like this I was the first Honda. During seven years I won six championships, one year I was third. In 2020 my life changed and since then was a nightmare, it were four very difficult years. And now this year I intent to answer many questions to myself. For that reason I need time; I don’t need to answer to all the questions in the first race. I need time, step-by-step, as I did in the pre-season. If some day I finish 14th, no panic. What I want to do is just to feel competitive again; feel competitive doesn’t mean win the championship; it means to fight for that top 5/6 positions. And this is what I want, but not straightaway on the first race – I need time to do it, you cannot start the house from the top’.
The rider from Cervera also said: ‘First of all I need to concentrate on myself and then if I can improve myself, if I can smile on the helmet, enjoy on the race track, I will have more chances to have a good bike next year. But in the end… when I made the decision was not difficult to understand what is my target; my target is to try to feel competitive again. If I feel competitive I will smile and then I will have the motivation to push and to keep going’.