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The ‘Long Goodbye’, or rather the lengthy controversy over the lack of competitiveness of his Honda with Marc Marquez's related desire to join Ducati Gresini team has been a bit tiring.
It's true, we are the ones asking him all the time, otherwise maybe he wouldn't speak and the fact that he does so (even without saying anything) is in favour of transparency.
The result of this is that his fans and his detractors are now aligned, some on one side and some on the other, keeping the scales of his future perfectly balanced.
Jorge Lorenzo, now involved as a driver only in the Porsche Cup, in his work for DAZN, for the MotoGP Guru program, this weekend in round 14 of the MotoGP season expressed his opinion confirming that Marc will not talk about his relationship with Honda at Motegi. It would be extremely inadvisable for him to outrage his Japanese fans (as well as HRC) by announcing a sensational departure for another brand, even within a satellite team.
Lorenzo, in any case, is part of the group of those who are convinced that the decision has already been made.
"I think it's a done deal," he said. "I don't think Marc is that worried about money. He just wants to be competitive again in 2024, and then be completely open to choosing between many competitive options for 2025."
At Motegi, 700 days will have gone by since Marc Marquez's 59th and last victory in MotoGP, which was at Misano in 2021. His last podium in a Grand Prix, 2nd place at Phillip Island, behind Alex Rins and ahead of the Ducati of Bagnaia, dates back almost a year ago.
Since then Marc Marquez has openly declared that he no longer wants to take too many risks: "Now I don't have the speed, and I don't ride as I would like, following my instinct. I race without doing anything special".
Something that leads Jorge to think that Marquez has already made his decision. Furthermore, Marc also added that at Motegi he will not use the 2024 prototype tested at Misano.
"I will ride the 2023 bike. Because, as I said in the Misano test, I don't feel comfortable on the 2024 prototype, so I don't think it's necessary to continue testing it. It's not a winning bike." A decision that might suggest that Marc no longer has much interest in further developing the bike. But also that he wants to continue to put pressure on Honda. Ultimately, as he said, we're not in his head. What is certain is that he has already decided, and if the Gresini team continues to keep the door open for him while keeping Di Giannantonio on tenterhooks, there must be a reason.
