Marc Márquez’s difficulties in 2023 are nothing new, as are the rides that the 8-time world champion has regularly taken to achieve a good run.
In San Marino, in the second free practice session, it was Dani Pedrosa’s turn to be the wheel followed by Márquez so that he could extract the full potential of his RC213V. And despite all the criticism he has received, the Cervera rider does not hide the fact that this is the only way, at the moment, to get the most out of his bike:
– In P2 in Barcelona I didn’t look for anyone because the possibility of being in qualifying 2, at least on Friday, was very low. That’s why I didn’t even try. But today I saw that there were some hypotheses. And it’s true, the only way to do it (be fast) is behind someone to try to improve acceleration and grip. This time, I chose the best, which is Dani (Pedrosa). He makes the MotoGP bike what he wants. It wasn’t my first choice, but I went wide in the first corner and he was coming. And when I started following him, I said, “Okay, he’s the second one I should follow.” He was driving very well.
Yet about Dani Pedrosa, and whether he would be bothered by Honda letting the Spanish driver escape, when they had the opportunity to hire him as a test driver, Marc Márquez said that although Pedrosa is extremely competent, the most important thing are the engineers who are part of the test teams, and that Honda is exactly working in this direction:
– Yes, it’s true that a pilot like him is always important. And Dani of course, he is the best possible driver to test and give you comments. But the most important thing in a test pilot are the engineers. As you can see, Aprilia and Ducati don’t have such a strong rider, but they are improving a lot. Therefore, in the end, the most important thing in a test team are the engineers. As we see here, (Stefan) Bradl is trying new things. There are a lot of new faces in the garage, new engineers. Japan is reacting, that’s good.