This year 2023 is being especially fateful for Marc Márquez. For now, he has already found his bones on the ground up to 14 times. A very high number, despite the fact that he has always been characterized by going to the limit with his driving. The fourteenth crash, in fact, was nothing short of inexplicable for a driver of his stature: an oversight when looking back that caused him to end up colliding with Bastianini when they were both rolling slowly. Perhaps, the sum of all the negative circumstances that he is going through this year have ended up making a dent in a pilot capable of signing saves that are little less than implausible and who, on the other hand, are conspicuous by their absence this season.
It is clear that the Honda of this 2023 is an almost indomitable mount, designed to be driven to the limit. And that, precisely, is the first of the key points to take into account to explain why Márquez is adding so many falls. Right now, you are trying to do things that seemed almost effortless just a few years ago.. When it seemed that he would end up on the asphalt, he managed to continue on his mount as if nothing had happened.. The serious injuries he has suffered in recent seasons, especially the one that affected his right shoulder, mean that he is not physically the same as before.. And if we add to that a motorcycle that is causing problems for all its riders, the sum becomes quite explosive.. To make up for it, risk. And now, almost always, tails come up instead of heads.
«In Germany we suffered more than expected, I also said that I would risk, and I risked, and it went wrong. The last fall, however, was already without risk, because on Saturday I had already thrown in the towel, but the fall came, so it's time to go little by little, with lead feet, to see if we can improve the project for the future », assured Márquez himself last Thursday. However, he was not exactly cautious, he fell again on Friday and, this Saturday, he showed that all this is taking its toll on a mental level with the clash with Bastianini.
Mental level bill
«On a mental level, it is the hardest moment of my sports career, aside from injuries. It's time to keep working, then I'll have a week and a half to rest and then start preparing Silverstone”, he confessed after a sprint race in Assen in which Marco Bezzecchi, who had previously achieved pole position ahead of Pecco Bagnaia and Luca Marini, also took the win.
Precisely, the fact that others have taken away that place of prominence that he used to have in the paddock is another of the reasons that would explain the large number of falls of Marc Márquez. None of the riders at the top, of course, is willing to lose the relevance that, by hand, they have been gaining in recent times. The challenge is growing. And, to respond to this challenge, it is not enough for the Spanish to remain with half measures. Something that, in addition, would also be completely out of his nature, of that special touch that led him to win six MotoGP world champion titles.
At the machine level, meanwhile, great miracles cannot be done either: the regulations do not allow presenting a completely new motorcycle for the next races. In the atmosphere that is breathed in the circuits there is the full conviction that Honda is taking good note of all the problems that are occurring this year and that it will be able to find an ideal solution for each and every one of them.. Even if you have to make a clean slate. Although, yes, with a view to the next course.