This year, Marc Marquez has had further complications due to physical problems that even forced him to retire from MotoGP for a few months for the fourth – and final – surgery on his injured right arm in July 2020. Now that he is getting back on his Feet physically, the six-time premier class champion wants Repsol Honda to make considerable progress with a bike that has been difficult to ride and uncompetitive – a subject addressed by test rider Stefan Bradl.
The German told SPEEDWEEK.com that the #93 is conscious about his physical condition and the fact that he has relatively little time before he can return to winning ways, and is therefore making demands of a competitive bike: ‘Marc is turning 30. He knows he still has two or three good years ahead of him. He wants a winning bike, he has stressed that several times, even before his break from racing at the Mugello GP. Marc didn’t see the big steps he envisioned at the Valencia test in November. Sure, he had four operations on his upper arm. In my opinion, he is clear about his state of health. That’s why he is now demanding clear measures from HRC.’
In Bradl’s view, Marquez also needs a bike on which he doesn’t have to risk so much: ‘Marc can’t play to his strengths on the current bike like he used to. He always has to take too much risk. He realizes that he is no longer able to keep the risk so high. He has to cut back more and rely more on the bike. But since all Honda riders have crashed x times and the results in 2022 were extremely weak, you can see that on the result lists, he demands a more competitive bike.’
And #6 said: ‘Marc is not the only Honda rider to criticize. All the others have done the same, from Alex Marquez to [Takaaki] Nakagami and Pol [Espargaro]. Marc is in the strongest position because of his successes. That’s why he is now calling loud and clear for improvements.’