It’s not that winning again 1043 days after the last time is not significant enough for someone who nine months ago made the riskiest gamble of his career, leaving Honda, his long-time home, where he was the jewel in the crown of the gold wing empire, to join one of the most modest teams in the paddock, on a bike that is not even the latest specification available.
The fact is that Marquez’s triumph in Aragon hides a plot much deeper than the fairy tale of his return to the top step of the podium. The implications of the exuberant superiority demonstrated by the #93 in one of his favorite circuits are much more than many can imagine, because to identify them it is necessary to decipher the roadmap that the rider is following, that “plan” he has been talking about since last season.
One of the pieces of advice that Carlos Sainz senior always gave to his son when he was “Carletes” and was trying to convince Red Bull to allow him to debut in Formula 1 was to send messages. “I always told him to try to win, because without winning there was no alternative, and that from time to time, as much as possible, he should send messages that would attract attention. A ‘pole position’ in the wet, a fast lap, things like that”, the two-time world rally champion (1990 and 1992) acknowledged on several occasions to the writer of these lines.
In the case of Marquez, his messages have been piling up on the track and lately off it too. The strategy has worked wonders for the rider from Cervera, who in Alcaniz has taken a huge weight off his shoulders – “I weigh two kilos less,” he joked – and who, most likely, will approach the remaining eight Grands Prix in a much more relaxed way, without blocks and pressures that could have been caused by the fact that he has not yet managed to win with the Ducati.
“Marc changed brands to become champion. You don’t undergo four operations on your arm and you don’t give up a multimillion-dollar contract like the one he had at Honda, just to have fun,” one of the people closest to Marquez told Motorsport.com. “Now he knows he can win again, and that will be very important for his confidence,” the source added, as soon as he hugged the star of the day. “He is one of the few who, after being injured, didn’t need to return to racing. He could have gone home. But what he did defines him as a person,” added Pedro Acosta.
The victory in Aragon comes two weeks after the spectacular comeback in Austria, where on Sunday he went from 13th on the opening lap, due to a problem with the lowering system of his GP23, to fourth place at the end. His feelings on that occasion were already good, and arriving on one of the most fruitful tracks for him – up to that point he had achieved five victories in MotoGP – gave him a final push that allowed him to bring out the best version of himself: he was the fastest in all the practice sessions he participated in, he took pole by more than eight tenths of a second – the biggest margin in a dry qualifying session since 2011 -, he dominated the Sprint and did not give anyone the chance to get close in the long race.
The only session in which he did not finish in the lead was the Warm-Up, in which he did not even set a time. “For me this is a very significant element. The fact that he decided not to go out in the Warm-Up, which took place on a half-wet track, shows how clear his ideas were about the race”, reflects this authoritative voice from the environment closest to him.
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Marquez’s weekend at Motorland can be interpreted as a declaration of intent. Firstly, because it marks him out as the only rider who has been able to prevail with last year’s Desmosedici GP (GP23) over those with the very powerful GP24. Since accepting the conditions proposed by Ducati, the multiple champion has never used the evident technical shortcomings of his bike compared to the latest specifications to justify the delay in his goal of returning to winning ways. Sunday’s victory, on an inferior prototype, therefore takes on even greater significance.
The low profile is not limited to his performances and his relationship with the Bologna-based manufacturer, but extends to the entire paddock. Marquez, who in his role as HRC’s spearhead used to take the lead in the Safety Commission meetings that the riders hold every Friday of a Grand Prix, has been absent for some time. He intends to do so again when his opinions are valued as before.
Since he got on the Ducati, the Gresini Racing boy has stated that his idea was to face 2024 as a rebuilding path. Many have interpreted this statement as if it were referring exclusively to the competitive field. However, Marquez is not only aiming to regain the speed that he may have lost during his last stint at Honda. He also wants to return to being the reference point of the grid at all levels, to return to being the boss, starting from those messages described a few lines above.
At Mugello, that weekend in which Ducati had chosen Jorge Martin to join Bagnaia in the factory team’s garage starting in 2025, the threat with which he cornered the managers of the Borgo Panigale company caused CEO Claudio Domenicali to change his mind on the fly and do without Martin, with the possibility that Marquez would strengthen Aprilia, which ultimately signed the Madrid native.
The winner of Aragon will wear red in 2025, in another of the stages that he has set as essential to return to the throne he occupied before that accident in 2020, in Jerez. There he will share the box with Bagnaia, with whom he will compete for everything. The battle with the Turin rider has already begun, not so much on the asphalt as off it, in those aspects that are less visible, at least for the moment.
To face his new stage in the Ducati box, Marquez had to give up Red Bull, one of his most loyal sponsors, because the Italian team has a global agreement with Monster. The paw brand offered him to join him on the same terms as Bagnaia, but he declined the offer. These days, giving up figures that only energy drink sponsors are able to pay is a manifesto from Marquez. Another one.
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