Márquez facing responsibility at Ducati: “The pressure is greater”

Dressed all in red, Marc Márquez has a big smile on his face this Monday in the snowy resort of Madonna di Campiglio. His excitement is palpable as he becomes an official driver again by joining the team which has dominated the championship for several years and which has no reason to believe that the tide could turn any time soon.

“I have butterflies in my stomach”, testifies the eight-time world champion, who has nevertheless seen others a few days before his 32nd birthday. “It's true that I've had a lot of presentations but when you arrive at a new team, the one which is today the reference team in MotoGP, the pressure is greater and that's normal. I'm very Glad to have this red suit and can’t wait to start the season!”

The Spaniard hesitates to verbalize the fact that this season represents the most challenging of his career, because it was especially last year that he questioned himself when he terminated his contract with Honda and joined a team satellite to rub shoulders with a Ducati he didn't know. “It was not a question of winning or not, but of finishing my career or continuing it,” he recalls. “From my sofa, I told myself that before ending my career, I had to understand if the problem was me or not, and what I could do with the best bike on the grid.

“That's what I was looking for last year on this bike, and especially with the Gresini team because when you've gone very low, you need a different atmosphere, without the pressure of a factory team . It went well since the factory team chose me for this bike.”

Reassured about his abilities, returned to victory after the longest drought of his career, Márquez has perked up and he knows that today he is approaching another moment of truth, alongside a driver who is a real reference in the Ducati group.

“It was new for me last year, but it was very different because my teammate was my brother. When you come to a factory team, it is clear that there is not a number one and a number two, it's just that there is a more experienced driver in the pit and another who is less experienced”, he observes.

“Now I can't wait to understand what they are doing in the pit to be so successful and to have dominated a lot in recent years. I would like to understand it, learn from it. Obviously the goal of the team is to try to win: if Pecco can't win, I'm going to try to do it, and if I can't, he's going to try to do it.”

When it was pointed out to him that after having been the youngest champion, he could become the oldest rider to win a title in MotoGP, Marc Márquez was a little nervous, but very quickly put the church back in the center of the village: “More than being the oldest, what is most important to me is my return from my injury. Last year, I proved to myself that you should never lower your expectations. arms and that one of the secrets was to try to have confidence in yourself I will try to keep the same mentality this year, to continue to have fun. I have won a lot in the past and we will see what. 'it will be in the future, but after my injury everything that will arrive will be a gift.”

When the manufacturer who is the leader at the moment bets on you, you have this pressure to try to fight for the title.

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Márquez is not exactly the type of driver who waits for the results to fall into their arms, gifts he happily gives himself alone. So he has very clear ideas about what rejoining a factory team entails: “It means fighting for a title. In the end, when the manufacturer who is the leader at the moment bets on you, you have this pressure to try to fight for the title.

“The main objective will be to be among the top three at the end of the championship. Obviously, we will try to stay focused on the title but the main objective will be the top 3,” he repeats readily. “Why? Because if you're in the top three, that means you fought for the title. It's obvious that being in this team comes with pressure that you have to manage, and that we must logically bring home as many points as possible.”