MotoGP Australia: Marc Marquez: “I will have doubts until I try the Ducati”

Saturday’s Australian grand prix marked the sixth time this season that Ducati riders have filled all three places on the podium, headed by a debut win for Johann Zarco.

The Frenchman’s victory was also the 13th (out of 16 GPs) for Ducati this year, a new record for the Bologna factory. Helped by its eight bikes on the grid, Ducati is on a streak of 42 successive GP races with at least one rider on the podium.

Fabio di Giannantonio, the rider Marquez is replacing at Gresini next year, also celebrated his first MotoGP rostrum on Saturday.

Despite such stats, eight-time world champion Marquez, who has just one Repsol Honda podium to his name so far this season (Japan), insisted he will have some doubts in his mind until he tries the Desmosedici for himself.

“You never know. Still now I have doubts. I will have doubts until I try the bike. But this is normal. It’s a big decision,” said Marquez, who is leaving his big money HRC contract one year early to ride a year old Ducati alongside brother Alex next season.

“When you do it, you are convinced of course, but you have question marks and doubts in your head. You’re thinking, 'maybe 11 years riding one type of bike, I’ll have to adjust many things on my riding style to adapt'.

“All these things, it’s not easy.”

The 30-year-old Spaniard, winless for over two years, also doesn’t underestimate the speed of the present Ducati riders, including title leaders Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.

“[The current Ducati riders] are super fast. Martin is super fast. Bagnaia is super fast,” he said. “But right now I’m fully concentrated on my [Honda] bike.”

Marquez, who was the top Honda in 15th place at Phillip Island, swatted away suggestions that given the bike's current form, he should just 'cruise' during the final events of his RCV career.

“I will keep the intensity because it’s the way. I don’t want to cruise. I will not push if I don’t feel [safe], but if I feel [safe] I need to push because like this, I keep that intensity," he said.

“If you relax for four races, then you jump to another bike and yeah, it’s better, but your body is not ready. I will keep the spirit and I said to the Japanese I will keep pushing and I will keep giving all my best effort.

“Qualifying, if I need to find a slipstream, I’ll find a slipstream. If in the race I need to take a risk and choose the soft option [tyre, as at Phillip Island] I will do.

“It’s my mentality. I cannot approach the races with another mentality.”

The soft tyre gamble had taken Marquez to the brink of victory at Phillip Island last season, but the increase in pace meant it wasn’t enough to overcome Honda’s lack of rear grip this time around.

“This is racing. Year by year they are improving. The race was [10 seconds] faster than last year. And especially the first part of the race,” Marquez said.

“This is a track that suits my riding style, but I was struggling a bit like the Sachsenring [because] we don’t have edge grip. We don’t have traction [when leaning]. I’m losing there.

“At [stop-go] tracks like Motegi I was feeling more comfortable… Buriram. Malaysia and Qatar we’ll suffer a lot. We’ll try to be safe and pass those races. Then in Valencia we’ll have the last race of the championship.”

The Thai Grand Prix at Buriram, where Marquez clinched his sixth MotoGP crown in 2019, before his arm injury misery began in 2020, starts on Friday.

Marquez and Gresini are awaiting official permission from Honda to let the #93 make his Desmosedici debut in the Valencia post-race test next month.