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Marc Marquez is getting ready for a well-deserved vacation, but before the winter break he took the opportunity to look back on this season and talk about his future in the official Ducati team. You can see the interview above or read it below.
You have just made your debut as an official Ducati rider, but before we tackle this new chapter, we would like to delve into the campaign you have just completed. It seems that the expectations you had a year ago have been fully realized... What have you learned from the 2024 season?
‘The 2024 season has been very important for my career because I came from four years with many injuries and that makes you doubt of your potential, if you can be competitive again and come back to your highest level. It has been a season in which we had set ourselves some ambitious goals, of course, taking into account where we came from. We set realistic goals such as a top 5, a podium in the Sprint Race, then a podium in the main race and then the victory. We have achieved them all, including the most important thing, which was to get back to enjoying myself, to get back to feeling the butterflies in our stomachs every weekend.'
In recent years, we have seen how injuries have affected your career. However, after the last intervention on your right arm, it seems that things have gone quite well in that sense as well. Do you think you have fully recovered your best fitness? Where are you right now comparing to 2019?
'My physical condition is good. At the same time, as you can ask any doctor, after serious injuries it's difficult to reach the same level, but the body is wise and remembers, but it also adapts, so that's where you have to work a little harder than before, try to focus on the weak points that the injuries have left in me with and, from there, try to perform to the maximum to be ready from pre-season. One of the most important things in 2024 was not to suffer injuries, although they come when you don’t expect them, but it was essential to have that consistency, that good inertia and to make that physical fine step that has also been good for me. That's what we have this winter for, to strengthen the weak points and start the 2025 season at the highest level.’
In your first contact with the Ducati Desmosedici GP 25 last Monday you completed almost half a hundred laps with a best time of 1:39.454, compared to the 1:38.798 you achieved in Q2 the previous Saturday on the GP23. What can you tell us about your feeling on each of the bikes?
‘That first test with the factory team at the Circuit de Catalunya was a first contact where you have to meet new people and try to adapt to the team, but at the same time it was a very important test because it was only one day and we had to set some guidelines to develop the new bike. The important thing for the technicians is that both Pecco [Bagnaia] and I set the same guidelines, we had the same feeling on the strong points on the GP25 and the same weak points comparing to the 2024 unit which we also tested. Compared to the 2023 bike, there were a leap that we have to find out how it is on the different tracks, but we always have 2025 in mind so that, as a Ducati team, we can take another step forward.'
With this last test the activity for the manufacturers without concessions like Ducati came to an end. How are these months going to be for you until the pre-season starts in February?
‘The months off can be long or short, it depends on how you approach it, but it's important to recover from the season, especially this last part with the Asian tour, and give the body a little rest. Mentally, when you finish well, you don't need it because you would continue training, but it's also good to slow down a bit and give the body a rest to recover, but already looking ahead to the first weeks of February, when we start pre-season in Malaysia and then the season in Thailand. When you get to February, you're practically in November because the season comes very close together, so you have to rest, spend Christmas with family and friends and look for a holiday place that, more than being beautiful, it must help you to disconnect. From January onwards, you really get into full pre-season mode and attack, in the sense of trying to prepare physically as well as possible.’
Speaking about the future, what do you think of the 850cc rules that will come into force in 2027? Are you in favor of reducing downforce aerodynamics and excluding height devices? Why?
‘This pre-season, above all, is very important because in 2025 and 2026 the engines will be the same. If you make a mistake in the engine design for 2025, you will also carry over the problems in 2026, so it is very important. Then there will be the regulation change in 2027, with less aerodynamics and slightly lower engine displacement, but I think the bikes will still run the same, because I don't know how the factories do it, but, in the end, they always make them fast again. However, the fact of using less aerodynamics I think it's good, especially because I think that will lead to more overtaking and the rider can make a little more of a difference. The issue of height devices also changes. I think that the less technical devices a bike has, the more difference the rider can make, and the more technical factors you have, the more it will make you depend on the mechanics.'
Remembering everything you've been through in the last five years, it's clear that the effort you've put in, that way of ‘never giving up’, has been something out of the ordinary, even for an elite athlete. Are you aware that this example of overcoming can also help anyone else?
‘I think that's a philosophy of life shared by many people and also by all athletes. Non-conformity has to be part of any athlete because there is always more to get. I've always thought that, no matter how good you are, there will come someone who will be better than you, today or tomorrow. That's why you have to set goals and when you achieve them, you have to be non-conformist and look for others, never let your guard down and always want to stay at the top. If you are in that position, at the top, you try not to go down from that step, but sometimes, due to different circumstances, you get knocked down and that's where you have to keep working and look for that point of non-conformity, but always being realistic about where you are, where you come from and where you want to be. But always looking for the maximum’.
And speaking about examples, we would like your opinion on the recent retirement of Rafa Nadal. You have always kept him as one of your role models. How would you describe his legacy?
‘For me, Rafa Nadal, and for many sportsmen of my generation and other younger ones, has been the benchmark. I think about my generation because he’s six or seven years older than me. When he was winning, I was on my way up and I was looking for a reference. Rafa Nadal has always been that, both on and off the sport. Three or four years ago, when we had a very similar situation with injuries, I remember being at home in January or February with a sling on my arm and seeing Rafa win in Australia after an injury. That's when he also gave me that motivation. I think he is one of the Spanish sportsmen who is very difficult to repeat, but we Spanish sportsmen are also fortunate to have role models of that size. The values he has always transmitted to me are discipline, effort and, above all, sacrifice. Also, one of the most important things: knowing how to win. No matter how much you win, that doesn't make you untouchable. And I think that Nadal has known how to win and that has also made a big difference.’
