What Marquez will we get on his much-needed MotoGP return?

This writer recently rewatched the 2020 Spanish Grand Prix as a means to fill some of this seemingly endless lockdown void we’re currently observing. Last year’s MotoGP season-opener has now of course become a day of infamy, the day that effectively ended Marc Marquez’s sixth title defence.

However, it was so very nearly a day that would have been remembered as one of Marquez’s best. Shooting off-track at the Turn 4 left-hander while leading on lap five of 25, Marquez began a comeback displaying nothing but his devastating talent, carving back from 16th to podium contention by the 21st tour. A lap later, he crashed chasing Maverick Vinales and broke his arm.

Now, MotoGP in 2020 was utterly breath-taking – arguably the best season in grand prix motorcycle racing’s 70-plus year history. But rewatching that Spanish race made me realise just how much we really missed Marquez and his genius on two wheels.

Last year’s nine different winners, 15 podium finishers in total, and four manufacturers taking victories on a mix of factory and satellite squads was no fluke. It was the ultimate proof of Dorna Sports’ rules concept, which first began with the much-maligned CRT (Claiming Rule Teams) regulations back in 2012.

But, throughout the season, it was repeatedly mentioned by riders that the championship was missing its reference, and the competitors their true benchmark. Undoubtedly nine riders could win races again in 2021, but could they do so with Marquez present? That’s probably the biggest question of the many swirling ahead of the new campaign on 28 March.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Honda Racing

Mercifully (and anyone not excited about this seriously needs to get over 2015) Marquez will be back in 2021, and hopefully sooner than later.

His right arm has started to show signs of healing following December’s third operation, and he hasn’t ruled out making it to the grid for the Qatar Grand Prix. He currently features on the provisional entry list for the first round and was given the all-clear from doctors to start riding bikes again last week. A brief clip of him bombing around a kart track on a pocket bike at the weekend showed him in fine fettle, even if he did miss pre-season testing.

“Always I try to be optimistic and I try to have the next goal,” he told the world’s media during Honda’s 2021 launch on 22 February about his return prospects. “So, my goal was try to be in the Qatar test. I will not be in Qatar test, but during that week I will have a doctors' check and then my second goal will try to be in Qatar race.

“Marc Marquez is Marc Marquez. When he comes back, he’s never going to be slow” Cal Crutchlow

“We will see if it’s possible. If it’s not possible, it will try to be in Qatar 2. If it’s not possible, we will try to be in Portimao. But first of all, of course the most important thing is the doctors check the bone consolidation is going in a good way, so when the doctor says, ‘OK, the bone consolidation is fixed’ then we will continue with the rehabilitation.”

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Marquez has fully come to terms with his “mistake” last July in trying to race in the Andalusian round just days after operation number one on his arm, and his race-by-race approach to his return is proof of that. As was his admission that, even if doctors give him the green light to throw his leg back over his RC213V in mid-March, he’s actually not in the necessary shape to do so yet.

This leads to the other big question of 2021: what kind of Marquez will we get back? It’s widely expected Honda will be able to just plug in and play its golden child. But he’s not raced since last July and there will be a lot of expectation on his shoulders placed there by himself.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda

Photo by: Repsol Media

This writer is always overcome with doubt at the start of a new season, wondering whether I can just get back into the swing of things the same as they were when the previous season finished. So, imagine the anxiety six-time MotoGP world champion Marquez will be carrying as he tries to get back to normal!

That said, the bike Marquez is returning to looks like it has become a little bit more manageable. Of course, he could tame the RC213V beast better than anyone, but not without difficulty. With him not around last year to give Honda the results it has become accustomed to, it had to work deeper on the bike to make it suit Alex Marquez and Takaaki Nakagami. And it did just that, the former going on to score back-to-back podiums in France and Aragon.

PLUS: How Honda has fixed a bike that only Marc Marquez could ride

The fact Pol Espargaro has been able to jump on the bike and immediately adapt to it after four years on the KTM further proves this, ending Qatar testing 10th overall and leading Ducati’s Jack Miller to call him the “standout” of the pre-season. Though Espargaro’s aggressive riding style was always bound to be a perfect match for the Honda, there was no guarantee. After all, this is the bike that effectively killed Jorge Lorenzo’s career.

Cal Crutchlow, who was privy to Marquez's data for the six years the Briton rode for Honda at LCR, is under no illusion the Marquez that returns will be no shade of his former self.

“Marc Marquez is Marc Marquez,” said the Yamaha test rider. "When he comes back, he’s never going to be slow. That is for sure. And we all look forward to it.

"Everyone is anticipating him to ride as soon as possible, but I think he knows to take his time and come back [when he's ready]. He’s not going to be a slow rider or anything like that, but it’s going to take him time to build up, to readapt. But you say that about Marc, he could be fastest after three laps! You never know, we’ve no idea. I think even the riders want him to come back, and hopefully he comes back soon and is fit and ready.”

 

From Honda’s point of view, what it expects from Marquez on his comeback is irrelevant compared to what he expects of himself. And, whatever the case, it believes Marquez will find a way to be his old self eventually.

“The only thing I know is that he will find a way to still be Marc Marquez and this you can only do by yourself,” Honda team boss Alberto Puig noted.

Marquez must be afforded space to get back up to speed - without pressure - and time to do so. With this, there’s little doubt that, by the end of the year, the old Marquez will have returned

“Of course, the team will help him, we will support him like always at 100% but what we expect, what we hope, what we think, is nothing. The important thing is what he expects from himself and what he thinks he must do to go back to his full potential as he had before the injury.”

When a date for his comeback is finally locked in, expectation from fans and the media will skyrocket. But Marquez must be afforded space to get back up to speed - without pressure - and time to do so. With this, there’s little doubt that, by the end of the year, the old Marquez will have returned in full bloom, if not before.

And MotoGP as a whole needs this. Firstly, because of the blockbuster spectacle that comes with Marquez, but also to offer the rest of the grid the benchmark they’ve been missing. Because with this, if they can prove themselves to be just as successful with a fully fit Marquez present, it will be proof beyond doubt that 2020 really is MotoGP’s normal.

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images