MotoGP’s 2018 world champ on life, crashing and why he can still go faster
Marc Marquez is rich and famous beyond his dreams. Or his needs. That’s what comes with being a five-time MotoGP world champion and perhaps the ultimate risk taker in the history of the sport.
Marquez loves every second of the dose of adrenaline that racing delivers. Living on the edge and defying the laws of gravity as he imposes his will on a Honda RC213V. It’s a captivating combination. A win-at-any-cost attitude and amazing career stats of 44 MotoGP race wins from 108 starts in just six seasons. And the youngest ever rider to win five premier class titles, all of them with Honda.
Since he joined MotoGP in 2013 Marquez has been a one-company man and is on Honda’s books – likely as their highest paid employee – for another two years until the end of 2020. But there has been a price to pay.
Marc Marquez cannot always be the real Marc Marquez. A man of simple tastes who is being drawn, often against his will, into the world of the celebrity athlete. Instant recognition and fan adulation not only in Spain, but across Europe and Asia.
Marquez, Sepang MotoGP tests, January 2018
“It’s interesting, because five years ago I thought that I would always keep the same style of living. I thought that I didn’t need a big house, I don’t need VIP in the disco, I don’t need a private jet, and I didn’t want any of it,” Marquez said. “But the life moves you in that direction. I’m building a new house, a big one, because I need my privacy inside it.
“And now sometimes I travel with a private jet, especially in the summertime in Europe, because I can’t move. I like to travel normally, but imagine how busy the airport in Barcelona is in summer – I nearly missed a flight last year because it took so long to get through there!
“I don’t like to go to nightclubs and sit with my table in the VIP area, because I’d rather be on the dance floor with my friends, but I can’t.
“Life moves you in that way, and I don’t like it or want it. It’s the thing that I miss most, still trying to be normal and living in my hometown.
“But I cannot be a normal boy. I am very social, I would like to be more in the middle of the people, but I have realised it is impossible.”
At 25 and still to reach his peak as a racer, Marquez is on a trajectory that, without a major hiccup, will edge him into the strata of motorcycling legends. Giacomo Agostini, Mike Hailwood, Angel Nieto and Mick Doohan spring to mind.
Marquez, Japanese MotoGP. Photo courtesy MotoGP.com
But talk of that also creates discomfort with Marquez who rode this year’s Australian GP at Phillip Island wearing Alpinestars gloves and boots in the replica design of boyhood hero Doohan. Just a week before at the Japanese Grand Prix, Marquez had equalled Doohan’s tally of five MotoGP titles.
“I don’t want to think about names like Agostini, Hailwood and Nieto because they are legends of MotoGP,” Marquez said. “When I equalled Mick Doohan, it was very strange because he was the first guy I saw when I started to understand motorbikes on TV.
“Doohan fighting with Alex Criville are some of my first memories, not just of motorbikes but in my whole life. And to now equal him is very special. But where I am among the greats, I have no idea.”
Marquez, Doohan’s boots and gloves, Australian MotoGP 2018
What Marquez has done is left an indelible mark on MotoGP, one that he hopes will be remembered long after his titles and wins are just numbers in the history books. His trademark aggression and fearlessness have been a revolution in the sport.
“In the end the titles are the most important, because without them there is no meaning but I hope that people remember me for my riding style, my character and ambition on the track,” Marquez said. “Doohan had a special way of riding, and there are some riders who have been very fast but they don’t have the same approach and they’re not remembered the same way.
Marquez, San Marino MotoGP 2018
“My style is all about my ambition. If I need to crash 18 times to be world champion, then I’ll crash 18 times. That’s my style – my ambition means that I give everything on track.
“When I save a fall, I always hope that they have taken it on TV, so I can watch it again!”
Marquez is seemingly always touching the fire but never getting burnt. His crash total for 2018 was 23 but he won nine races – 50 percent of the 18 concluded.
Marquez is not scared to rush to the limit and then over it while having the mental capacity to step back a fraction when it counts in races.
Marquez, Qatar MotoGP Test, March 2018
“Among the top riders I am the one that falls the most, but it’s not because I am a worse rider,” Marquez astutely observes. “A moment may come when you’re afraid of hurting yourself, but if you think about this, you will never be fast. I need that little bit of unconsciousness, to approach the limit, I like to play with this tiny border.”
Adding his 125cc and Moto2 titles Marquez is a seven-time world champion, but by a long shot the Marquez story is not over. There is a lot more racing, and winning, to be done. And in a scary signal to his rivals Marquez accepts he is still on a learning curve. Adding more self-control to his, at times, untamed talent is a part of the plan as he matures into a more complete racer. Not just one who can be devastatingly fast.
“Sometimes before I crash I feel ‘oh, I’m going to crash.’ You know that you’re over your limit, but you keep pushing because another rider is faster than you,” Marquez said. “That is where I need to control myself, because more than learning about the limits I need to learn to control myself.
Marquez, Aragon MotoGP 2018
“What is helping me more than anything is to use my experience to be more mature in my life, as well as in the circuit. I started in the paddock at 15, only a kid, and when I went to MotoGP at 20 I was still really only a teenager.
“I can learn many things about how to race or how to be technical, but to really improve you have to use experience. That’s the main difference between Dovizioso, Rossi, Lorenzo and everyone else; they have the experience that they can use in a different way.”
Marquez is a man for the present, he cares little for regrets or anticipating the future.
But he knows his remarkable achievements will bring pressure to deliver more. The expectations from the outside will be huge.
“For sure I will have the pressure to win more, but that’s my own mentality. I want to have the pressure of fighting for the championship every year, because that means that the people believe in me and I’m at a very good level.
“But every year is different and I will approach every year with the same mentality, to be world champion.”
Marquez, British MotoGP 2018
Home cooking
Why he lives walking distance from his mum
Marc Marquez was born and raised in Cervera, 110km inland from Barcelona in the heartland of Catalunya. He still lives there. Not for Marquez the glitz and glamour of the concrete jungle of Monaco, nor a Swiss tax haven or a Caribbean hideaway.
“I like Spain, but also Italy, which I like a lot, but there is no other place for me,” Marquez said. “Above all the eating, and also the climate and the type of life. It’s perfect for me.
“My house is only five minutes walking from my Mum’s house.
“I can cook pasta and maybe some chicken breasts on the grill, but don’t ask me to make a risotto – that’s something that I still go home to my mum’s house for!”
Down time for Marquez is heavily focussed on sport.
“I like sports, skiing in winter, playing football. I do not have hobbies that are not related to sport.”
Marquez, Australian MotoGP 2018
His mind is racing
How a flick of a brain switch won him the title
Marquez’s strategy to secure his fifth world championship at the Japanese GP in Motegi was a bold demonstration of his unwavering self-belief. For 20 of 24 laps Marquez stalked the Ducati of his only title rival Andrea Dovizioso who was running hard in the lead.
Ten laps from the flag Marquez made a move for the lead, got ahead briefly before clipping the grass and losing momentum, which allowed Dovi back in front. But Marquez was not done.
“When I went back past Dovi with four laps to go, I did one fast lap and then thought ‘okay, everything in on this lap’ and my next one was much faster.
“Then I decided it was three qualifying laps, without thinking about the championship and the race.”
That late-race surge delivered the race win and the championship at Honda’s home track. Marquez needed only two of his so-called ‘qualifying laps’ with the chasing Dovizioso crashing at turn 10 on the penultimate lap allowing Marquez to coast to the flag.
Marquez, Japanese MotoGP race 2018
Lorenzo lands
Getting his diplomacy on around the arrival of a rival
The next two years will be a fascinating phase in Marquez’s career as he shares the factory Honda garage with fellow Spanish star Jorge Lorenzo, a five-time world champion.
It is an intriguing combination; two fast and exceptional riders going head-to-head on Honda RC213Vs.
The hype machine is on full throttle with comparisons being drawn to the long ago, unsavoury feud between F1 stars Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost at McLaren. The bad blood between the pair on track was amplified by often vicious and personal vendettas off track.
Will Marquez-Lorenzo be like Prost-Senna?
“No,” Marquez said. “On the track both riders want to win the title and both of us will give 100 percent. We have had some greats fight in Austria and Brno (this season) and we had a professional relationship.
“Inside the track is one thing but outside the track you can have a good relationship like I have with Dovizioso. Drama is something that people expect next year, and I understand that, but Jorge and I are professionals. The competition will be on the track, and we know that our job is to only fight there.”
Marquez, Pedrosa, Lorenzo,Spanish MotoGP 2017
Yokoyama on Marc
Why the increasing crash bill doesn’t actually matter
HRC technical director Takeo Yokoyama says that Marc Marquez’s fifth MotoGP world championship was built on consistency, not his usual dash for cash. Marquez scored 14 podiums out of 18 races that included nine wins and crucially his worst result when he finished in the points was third place in the Czech Grand Prix.
“What Marc learned this year was to be consistently on the podium, especially in races that he could not win, that counts for a lot of championship points” Yokoyama said. “In the past it was more like win or crash.”
Marquez crash, San Marino MotoGP 2018
Yokoyama admits that Marquez’s unique style, of finding the limit in practice, puts a strain on the spare parts bill. No doubt a price Honda are willing to pay if the championships keep rolling in.
“Marc goes straight to the limit in practice and if he crashes he understands the limit for the race,” Yokoyama said. “But this makes me nervous for the crash budget. Marc usually crashes at least 20 times a season and we need budget to cover this!”
Marquez, Japanese MotoGP 2018
Words Colin Young Photography Gold&Goose