Marc Marquez changed his life after the arm surgeries, now it’s up to Honda to know how to adapt to the times.
Marc Marquez had to change his life after the various operations on his right arm following the Jerez accident in July 2020. He moved his residence to Madrid to avoid continuous and stressful trips to support the rehabilitation of his trusted medical team. In the Spanish capital he found new stimuli and rhythms of life, he met his new manager Jaime Martinez Recasenshead of Red Bull’s motorsport division for the past 12 years, who will also look after his brother Alex’s career.
The multiple champion of the Honda he had the courage to change, to return shortly after the operation on his arm. He could have waited and not taken too many risks, but the Misano test was of vital importance to lay the foundations for the next MotoGP world championship. Because many of the technical innovations are already being examined by the HRC engineers and the “Cabroncito”, in 2023 it will be forbidden to make mistakes, because the competition from European brands is starting to scare.
Honda on the rise after Covid
The 2020 season was not only marked by the accident of Marc Marquez, but also from the Covid pandemic that has put Japanese companies in check. Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki were “damaged even more, especially since in 2020 and 2021 most of the World Championship took place on European circuits“, Explained the eight-time world champion. “The Asian engineers moved to Europe, but they were no longer in the factory. Communication and the level of work have dropped a bit“.
Conditions were similar for all manufacturers and an international company like Honda cannot use the pandemic as a justification. Marquez recalls: “It shouldn’t be an excuse because in the end you participate in a World Cup and you also need to know how to adapt to changes, otherwise you will be overtaken.“, He explained in a long interview with his sponsor Estrella Galiciain the aftermath of the race in Thailand which concluded with an encouraging 5th place.
Marc has the task of carrying on the evolution of the RC213V, his feedback is essential to show the Japanese technicians the way forward in view of the winter, when work on the prototype for next season will continue in the factory. “We hope that by 2023 they will take a big step forward, but I cannot blame them for anything, because I see an enormous effort on their part and I feel in them the desire to win again. Then there is also the importance of taking every step in the right direction“.
Until the preseason it seemed that Honda was the big favorite, for the simple fact of having revolutionized many areas of the bike. But Marc Marquez recalls: “A big change doesn’t mean going for the better. In this case we have made a better change than the year before. The bike is better, but there are other factories that have made bigger steps forward than us“.
