Marc Marquez: “Expectations vs reality” – Bagnaia and Martin “super fast” in F1 insights.
Marc Marquez: “Expectations vs. Reality” – Bagnaia and Martin are “too fast” according to F1 insights.
Marc Marquez has tried to minimize expectations for the Gresini Ducati season in MotoGP, insisting that being at the same level as Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin “will not be normal”.
After a promising start for Ducati at the Valencia test in November, Marquez is currently seen by the bookmakers as the favorite for the 2024 title. This comes ahead of current champions Bagnaia and Martin. At the team presentation at Riccione, Marquez stated that his aim was to be fast on the track and improve his performance if possible, but stressed the importance of managing expectations. Marquez admitted there was a lot of pressure on him, but he wanted to focus on his own work in the garage and stay calm, especially at the start of the season. First of all, he expressed his desire to adapt to Ducati; because he was joining a team that had not won a race in the last two years and where Bagnaia and Martin had great success. Marquez said he could not expect to be at their level immediately when he joined the team and thought it would take time to get used to the bike and be competitive.
Marc Marquez has opened the door to a possible return to MotoGP at Honda. Speaking at the Gresini Ducati team presentation on Saturday night, the eight-time world champion expressed his gratitude to Honda, saying “I hope our fates will cross again in the future”, but stressed that the decision was up to him depending on their future performances.
Marquez signed a one-year deal with Gresini and will race alongside his brother Alex this season. Meanwhile, Marquez’s former teammate Joan Mir, who has struggled to cope with the RC213V’s shortcomings for several seasons, saw the 2024 Honda prototype as a real improvement in the Valencia test.
Marquez, the most successful grand prix driver in Honda history with 59 victories, said he has no doubt that the factory will return to the top level, but the biggest question mark about how long this process will take is how long it will take. “Whether this would happen in a month, two years or a year was the biggest doubt,” Marquez said. “It was also a risk for my career. I thought the best option was to do it (join Gresini Ducati).
” But Honda is Honda. HRC will certainly deliver and get big results (eventually), but the biggest change they made so far was changing the project leader.”
