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Marc Marquez’s absolutely outstanding German Grand Prix victory got him back to winning ways in MotoGP for the first time in nearly 600 days.
But with plenty still to fix in the Repsol Honda garage, the eight-time world champion was adamant after the race that there’s still a long way to go until he returns to his previous dominant form.
It’s no secret that Marquez has a special relationship with the Sachsenring, having now extended his unbeaten streak there to 11 victories in a record that stretches all the way back to 2010 and his 125cc days.
It also doesn’t hurt that his Honda RC213V, widely acknowledged as perhaps the most difficult bike on the MotoGP grid, is well-suited to the short and twisty Sachsenring, further reducing the two-fold disadvantage that Marquez has faced since returning from a potentially career-ending injury last year.
And that means that a good result this weekend was always going to risk skewing the picture of his true form – something that he admitted afterwards is exactly the case.
“It’s true that in this racetrack there are two things: I ride with less physical limitations, and the weak points of our bike are less,” Marquez said when asked about that scenario by The Race.
“In the future you’ll see nothing. We’ll struggle again to be in Q2” :: Marc Marquez
“We saw all weekend that the Hondas were better, although it’s true that in the race the others struggled.
“It’s quite difficult to manage the bike here. The others just have to manage the rear tyre, but we need to manage the front tyre too. That’s why I was riding slowly in the first part of the race – just to save the front tyre, not to save the rear.
“Now we need to think about many things, to understand and to improve for the future.
“And in the future you’ll see nothing. We’ll struggle again to be in Q2, we will be more or less in the same situation as Mugello or Montmelo.
“We need time, and we’ll continue, because the motivation is there.
“We’ll keep an open mind, and the victory was important but today we found some extra motivation too.
“We were strong all weekend and the only weak point was on the single lap with a new tyre, and I wasn’t able to find a way because the bike becomes more physical and more aggressive, and I was struggling a lot.”
The previous race at Barcelona had been another disaster for Marquez as he crashed out of his home grand prix.
But there was a more important element to the trip to the Catalunya circuit than just the race – the chance to finally complete a normal day of MotoGP testing on the 2021 Honda afterwards.
“A thing that for me was very important was the Monday test at Montmelo,” said Marquez, who missed all of pre-season testing while still recovering from his Jerez 2020 injury and subsequent complications, and only joined this season at round three.
“It was the first time that I was able to ride like I wanted to, without pressure, just like it was my pre-season test.
“It was only one day but I did many laps, and this was very helpful to understand the way to ride.”
So what comes next for Marquez? When will he be in a position to win again?
Well, according to him there’s one simple answer to that question: time.
Still not physically ready to fight for a championship and laughing off any such suggestions in the post-race press conference, he believes that he’s on the right path towards recovery and just needs to manage his expectations.
Even MotoGP’s upcoming six week break between next weekend’s Dutch GP at Assen and the Red Bull Ring double-header in August won’t be game-changing.
“The summer break will help, and I hope to be able to make a step with my physical condition during that month and a half,” he said.
“To be ready, or to be the same Marc as 2019, won’t happen [in that time].
“Step by step I expect to be closer to the top guys, but in Austria I won’t be ready to fight for the victory.
“I’ve never won there, so I don’t think I’m going to win this year.”
