Marquez: Honda MotoGP atmosphere hasn't changed since departure announcement

The eight-time world champion has been with Honda for his entire MotoGP career, but has elected to quit with a year left on his current contract to join Gresini Ducati in 2024.

Marquez won’t be able to bring any of his crew with him to Gresini aside from tyre technician Javi Ortiz, but says nothing has changed in the atmosphere with his crew in recent races.

“We work in the same way, the same atmosphere,” he said on Friday after ending practice for the Thailand Grand Prix in 11th.

“We are working but we are friends. So, yeah, the atmosphere is the same. I try to do precise comments, I try to push the same on the race track.

“I try to give the comments to the Japanese staff.

“The atmosphere is the same: we are professionals, but it also helps a lot that we are friends.

“And next year we will not work together with some of them, but still we will go for dinner because I can go for dinner with my friends.”

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team

The Honda rider missed out on a direct place in Q2 by just 0.065 seconds on Friday in Thailand and blamed a “lack of torque” for stopping him advancing.

However, Marquez also conceded that, while the performance was good, Honda’s position is 10th to 15th.

“Performance was good. We were there between 10th and 15th, it’s our position at the moment,” he said.

“I tried my best to be in Q2. It was not possible. Very close, but we are out. Tomorrow it will be difficult to jump to Q2, but we will try our best.

“When I put the new tyre, it was a lack of torque. It’s why I was a bit, not angry but just disappointed because there is where we are losing and with the new tyre you feel you are not using all the new tyre.

“And in some points the bike was weak. But for tomorrow we will fix it.

“But I was more disappointed because I saw 60 milliseconds to the Q2, and Q1 is a nightmare, it’s the worst practice of the world.”

Marquez was involved in an odd moment midway through second practice when a winglet from Jorge Martin’s bike broke off and hit him in the shoulder entering pitlane.

Initially, Marquez thought it was debris from the track that hit him and only experienced pain briefly before being able to carry on as normal.

“It was before the time attack, we were going in on the box and I didn’t realise in the moment that it was a piece from his bike,” he said of the Martin incident.

“I thought it was something on the track, but I got hit in the shoulder and at the time it was painful.

“The next minute, two minutes were painful, but after it wasn’t a problem for the time attack.”