Warning to sailors: Marc Márquez’s situation of going more than 1,000 days without winning is much more complex and is influenced by many more factors than we know. The main cause, without a doubt, was not only the injury in Jerez, but the medical blunder that was committed afterwards. A situation that, in fact, was acknowledged afterwards by Marc himself and that cost him the position of trust of the man who was his doctor at the time.
But there is another cause that is just as important as the injury, and that is the talent and capacity for sacrifice that Marc has shown over the years. Putting yourself in the place of someone with that talent and capacity is not easy, but imagine that you are almost thirty, that you are a legend in your field and, fundamentally for most humans, that you have your livelihood assured for the rest of your life.
Working in your profession is not necessary, you have proven everything and you have everything you could ever want, as well as keeping the most important things, your health and your own life because, let’s not kid ourselves, Marc has bought a lot of tickets and fortunately he hasn’t won. And, instead of giving up everything, hanging up your suit and dedicating yourself to enjoying what you have achieved, your desire is to recover in order to be fast again, to give up money and a factory bike, to take a theoretical step back to try to be the best again.
Did the GP23 perform better than the GP24 or was it Marc?
And that’s where we are, because today we cannot judge whether Marc is the best or not on the grid. He does not have the same weapons as those who are one step ahead of him. We also do not know if this weekend at MotorLand his outdated GP23, which is obviously not as competitive as the GP24 and which only he regularly drives to the top positions, could have played in his favour due to its characteristics on the Aragonese track.
But what if an old bike had been better for these circumstances? Well, that wouldn’t delegitimize Marc’s review of each and every rider on the grid. Some had better weapons, others worse, others the same, and none of them could come close to Marc, who knew how to read the track conditions better than anyone else.
The Ducati, because of the way it works, requires a lot of precision and the conditions at MotorLand required a lot of skill and Marc showed that he can be. I don’t remember a Marc who was so effective, so restrained or so fast. It has always been said that when a rider like Márquez seems to be going slow, it means that he is going fast, very fast. And that is exactly what happened this weekend.
Now we are left wondering whether Marc will be able to continue dominating on a track with maximum grip, where the rest can get the most out of their bikes. Because what is certain is that he will continue to be in front. He already knows the Ducati GP23 perfectly, has his place for 2025 secured in the official team and has one goal: to win the title.
He may not be able to do it this year, and his mistakes at the beginning and not so early in the season may be holding him back, but Marc is back. He is here and he is here to stay. Right now he is 70 points behind Martín’s lead and 47 behind Bagnaia’s second place, but we still have 8 GPs left and that means there are 296 at stake. There are possibilities, although right now it is not up to him, because if Marc wins everything between now and the end of the season and Martín finishes second in all the races, Jorge would still end up winning.
But the magic of racing, the best thing about racing, is that we never know what can happen. A mistake by yourself or someone else can cost you points, just as a mistake by your rivals can give you points. What is palpable is that Mar is back to stay and it will surely not be another 1,043 days before we see another victory. And we have not even started talking about 2025 yet, but the warning to sailors is clear: the boss is back.
