Marc Márquez says he has three plans for the 2024 season. He does not specify what they consist of, although he claims to be very clear about what he will have to see in the coming weeks to ultimately decide on one of them . Plan A is probably to fulfill his contract with Honda, the factory where he won his six MotoGP titles. On paper, this is the most likely, although he has entered the fray in recent weeks, fueling rumors of a possible Ducati departure without Team Gresini. That would be plan B, despite the reluctance of those responsible for the Bologna brand, without the power to sanction the movement of the customer team. Plan C, which no one knew about until Monday, is a mystery.
“I have the three ideas very clearly and naturally, what needs to happen to choose one of them,” said the Cervera rider after the 2024 Honda test in Misano. He was serious, and the atmosphere in the garage didn’t inspire optimism either. The new bike is visibly different, even if the times don’t show any obvious improvement for now. “The problems are still the same, you drive differently, you approach the corners differently, but the power and lap times, which are the norm in this sport, remain the same,” he noted during the lunch break.
There was also the afternoon session, which I didn’t expect much from. It was like this. I wanted to go home and calmly consider all the options on the table. Very few know the final decision, and Márquez is more mysterious than ever as they try to get a concrete answer out of him. “El Periódico” said this Sunday that the decision to stay had already been made before the test day on Monday, and yet the words of the eight-time champion once again raise a question about his future.
Márquez has always emphasized that he wants to fulfill his contract. The emotional component of the successful relationship that began in 2013 and the four-year renewal that the brand with golden wings extended in 2020, when no one else dared, are very present in his thoughts. Also the willingness of the Japanese company to pay him his high salary despite the outbreak of the pandemic and the beginning of his ordeal with injuries. Having finally regained his physical fitness after four operations on his arm and several setbacks earlier this year, the Honda’s disastrous track performance causes him to reconsider his unwavering loyalty.
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“The scope, the patience… Time flies and you don’t need promises, just facts,” he argues at the age of 30. The great dominator of the last decade has not tasted the honey of victory for almost two years. It was precisely in Misano, where he tested the new prototype, that he achieved his last victory of 2021. In Sunday’s race at the San Marino GP he struggled to reach seventh place, his best result in eleven months.
Fresh ideas for radical change
Marquez has held more meetings than ever with Honda’s most senior executives this year. The factory appears to have taken his comments seriously after months of insistence, and in Misano a horde of new faces appeared in the garage to hear their first impressions of the new prototype. He wants technical signings on a European basis to replicate the winning formula of Ducati, Aprilia and KTM, a talent search led by Alberto Puig in recent weeks. For now, the brand has contributed several of its Japanese engineers from Formula 1 and has also merged the two- and four-wheel competition departments to create more synergies.
The team’s sporting director hinted in an interview with DAZN that Honda is finally proposing the radical change its riders are demanding. “We can’t make progress with small changes, so we’re thinking about more radical solutions,” Puig said from Italy. Joan Mir, 2020 world champion, has also been speaking in the same vein as his teammate for months.
As for the timing of his decision, Márquez explained that he wants to be picking the leaves by the end of the month, when the World Cup begins its Asian tour with a doubles match in India and Japan. Despite seeing fresh ideas and new faces, the track once again frustrated a champion who couldn’t decide which path to take.
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