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Ernest Hemingway once said that a man must fight against all odds, even when there is no reasonable chance of getting away with it. Even when defeat is certain.
We don't know if Marquez has ever read Hemingway, but his career certainly fully reflects this philosophy: Marc is not a man who gives up, and he has demonstrated it amply in the last three years, going through an ordeal that would have convinced anyone to stop, whatever he was doing.
He didn't. Prisoner of a millionaire four-year contract with Honda signed before Covid, before the accident, the Spaniard has honoured every penny he earned by risking his health and his own life to do so.
For those who still haven't figured out who this guy is, the five crashes suffered during the Sachsenring weekend should have opened your eyes. You may hate him for 2015, or for whatever reason you may care to believe in, but the only possible comparison we can think of for Marc is the Greek hero Leonidas who with utter disregard for the consequences faced the Persian army at Thermopylae.
But now we must change history: we must save Marc Marquez, and the only ones who can do it are the Honda men. He, left alone, will never give up. Is this finally getting through to you?
There isn't a single rider in the world championship willing to do what he's doing: putting his life on the line to get the most out of a project that not Marc, but Lorenzo, Pol Espargarò and Joan Mir have shown to be dangerous. Mir is not racing due to a broken little finger. Jorge ended his career by choosing to live.
It wasn't Marquez who developed a bike that only he could ride. It was Honda that gave Marquez a bike that only he could control. Until yesterday, until today. But now Marc's talent, class and courage have also shown that this is no longer enough.
So, Private Marquez needs to be saved, not because he's dangerous to others - racing is danger made into a show - but because it's not acceptable for a manufacturer to let that happen. A manufacturer like Honda, which was the first one in the ‘70s, to be concerned about the safety of its customers by building beautiful, reliable, safe motorcycles. And which still are today.
Honda stands for reliability and safety. Were the founder – Soichiro - who still came to the Grands Prix at the end of the ‘70s, still around, he wouldn't tolerate it. Whatever the cost, we would have a new bike after the summer break. But something is moving.
Marquez's meeting at Mugello with the vice president of Honda Motor, Aoyama is an unequivocal sign.
We don't know if Marc and Honda will still be together in 2024 or, if mutually, they decide to terminate the contract. What is certain is that Honda has a moral obligation to save Private Marquez. Now. It is simply not acceptable that it watches with folded arms the destruction of a man who, as if he were obeying the ancient rules of Bushido, cannot surrender.
