Box Confidential: Marc Marquez’s real challenge in 2023

Marc Márquez’s real challenge in 2023

Things are weird with Honda. Will Marc Marquez be able to finish the GP weekend without suffering a crash? You could say this is an absurd challenge for Marc for the rest of the season. Marquez is a driver who has always experienced many crashes in 2017/27, 2018/23, 2019/14, 2021/22 and 2022/18, but before that he was fighting for victory and taking risks. However, we are now in such a situation. in the middle of the platoon. At Phillip Island on Friday we added two more cars, bringing the provisional total to 25 cars…even though they didn’t participate in about 30% of the races held! Some “dangerous” numbers are that one bad fall is enough to cause an injury, but as in Quartararo’s case, one fall is more likely to cause that bad fall than his 25. Because the probability of doing so is much higher. But the most heartbreaking thing is that Marc’s teammate Joan Mir is the second driver to have had the most crashes of all drivers in all categories, with 20. And like Marc, he was out for a third of the race. The race is in dispute… I don’t know if the bikes Honda rides riders on are dangerous or not, but it seems like they are.

A coin toss…or almost.

The Australian Grand Prix’s long race from Sunday to Saturday will be spent with strong winds expected at Phillip Island tomorrow – with talk of wind gusts of up to 80km/h from 11am – a bit of a coin toss. I decided to choose tires. This was especially true in this case, given that it is already a decisive decision that will determine the final outcome. On the other hand, on Friday we basically ran on tires that should have been used in Saturday’s short race, which was not a possible combination for the long race. Meanwhile, temperatures dropped significantly between yesterday’s morning practice session and the afternoon race, so teams and drivers relied on a combination of experience and intuition to decide what to ride. This unexpected situation reminded us that everything could change in just 24 hours in the final sprint for the title between Martin, Bagnaia and Bezzecchi.

Phillip Island, the holy land of MotoGP.

Over the years, whenever I have been asked what my favorite GP is, I have no hesitation in saying the race at Phillip Island. Just as people who practice Islam are obligated to go to Mecca once in their lives, so do believers in Islam. MotoGP should be required to attend the GP at Phillip Island. What makes this commandment difficult to complete is that this “sacred” place for us is on the other side of the world. But believe me, not a single person who was lucky enough to travel there would think it wasn’t worth it. The combination of rugged beaches, cliffs, unique circuits, and the sun, rain, wind, and chill as the sun sets gives you the feeling of being at the end of the world. And I don’t know why it creates a strange sense of calm, at least in me. Additionally, the way Australians experience racing is different to other parts of the world, with the peculiarity of having very few hotels and having to stay in one of the hundreds of summerhouses dotted around the island. there is. It’s best to take a walk on one of the many beaches around the island in the morning before going to the circuit.All this means that you don’t arrive at the circuit “ready for battle”, but relaxed, as if doing yoga… As I said, Philippe, Mecca of MotoGP island