Back on topic.... So Marc was supposed to back to back tests between the HRC bike and the Kalex shod bike, but he kept crashing and they never got to do a side by side comparison in any sessions over the weekend. So who is to blame for this? Well one is obviously Marc for doing what he always does and goes straight to and over the limit and two Dorna for changing the schedule for 2023 by including a sprint race and removing FP4, by doing so they've turned the free practice sessions into qualifying. Add to that limited testing now everything has to be done at a race weekend. We also have to blame Honda, they had a bike years ago which anyone could ride, Marc is an amazing talent, he stepped up from Moto2 and pretty much started winning within a round or two, Dani was then forgotten, Honda focussed completely on Marc and knowingly or not put all their eggs in one basket developing a bike only he could ride. It's not the first time either, Ducati/Stoner was the same thing. Roll the years forward, Marc and Honda have enjoyed amazing successes and continue to do so, every other Honda rider is effectively there to bag a few points, Honda sign a 4 year 100 million Euro deal to retain their superman and everyone is happy. Marc continues to crash a lot, save a lot of crashes and gets lots of airtime, sponsors are loving it. Then Jerez 2020 his luck unfortunately runs out. Now a normal person would wait until their arm was healed up, whether it was Marc, Puig, HRC we'll never know but he comes back and his freshly plated arm doesn't work. He's now into 3 major operations over the next 2 years, doing a few races but you can see he's not comfortable on the bike. HRC turn their focus to their test rider and their other riders for input understandably, and their feedback, the lack of results and if you recall HRC were on the verge of concessions it was that bad, they develop a new bike for 2022. Pol loves the bike at the first round, HRC must think they've cracked it, but it soon falls apart and with Marc still sidelined it's looking like another grim year. Marc eventually returns and there's glimmers of hope, the golden child is once again scoring points, but the bike is so far behind the rest of the field. HRC missed an opportunity to flood the grid with Honda's to glean so much data they've only got themselves to blame. Back to Marc though, he's always been a crasher, he pushes a bike so hard to find the limit and 9/10 times he'd save it, those days are long gone, whether it's the bike, him getting older or both I don't know, but he's hitting the deck more often than not now. He's an intelligent guy, he needs to understand his limits and work with the limits of the bike to get the best results he can which will gather data for the engineers, not crash his brains out. So this goes back to my opening statement Marc was supposed to test both bikes and provide feedback. He's not going to win this years championship, even if he had the package, there's too many riders at the same level now, he needs to accept this to come back better, stronger and work with HRC to do so. It's the same for Fabio, it was the same for Vinales and Rossi on the Yamaha, Rossi on the Ducati, some years you have the best rider but the bike cannot win a championship, so they waste a year or more developing a bike to hopefully win. Maybe it was the pressure (his own pressure) of being at a track he's never lost at, he supposedly only broke a finger on his left hand, other that dumping the clutch he's probably never going to need that finger the whole race. He was signed off fit but chose not to race, was that because he knew he couldn't win and save face, or was it more that he's completely lost faith in HRC, only time will tell? He's a brutal racer and has caused multiple crashes and injuries to other riders throughout his grand prix career and always managed to avoid penalty, heck he even managed to avoid the Oliveira penalty at the start of the year which saw Miguel out for a few rounds. But he's already been injured several times this season, he's not getting any younger, has an underlying risk to his sight, how far is he willing to go to claim another title, I suspect he'd kill himself (and possibly others) trying and that needs to be addressed sooner or later by Dorna, HRC, management, medical professionals. If he left HRC, broke the contract/bought himself out of it what next, every manufacturer has stated they're not interested, although KTM have since made another statement. Do Ducati need him - No, do KTM need him - No, do Aprilia need him - ? Do Yamaha need him - probably, but I don't see that happening. I'd imagine every team says no, but they'll be conversations internally right now to discuss the options, even if it were to stop another manufacturer signing Marc. He's the 2nd oldest guy out there also, all of the teams have riders queuing to move up, there's no shortage of talent and other than a PR exercise I just do see why anyone would want/need him unfortunately. It would be a sad day for the sport to lose Marc and what he brings, but maybe it's time for him to go fishing like Casey with his pot of gold and enjoy his life, he's got a girlfriend now, so his life is changing and he's got more than racing to focus upon.
@Freak “”He's an intelligent guy, he needs to understand his limits and work with the limits of the bike to get the best results he can which will gather data for the engineers, not crash his brains out.“” Yes, and no. Maybe intelligent. Maybe not. He should have worked out earlier this season that his approach is not working and there is no chance of a title this year. His body may have (mostly) recovered. But what he needs is psychiatric help. He will seriously hurt someone else, himself, or both again. If it was in an isolated incident and in the process of making a calculated overtake, to challenge or win the championship…maybe understandable. To continue as he is, just madness. Like you say..Honda are getting no valuable feedback, other than “it does not work”. He goes straight out and crashes before the valuable laps are put in and therefore before real set-up can be carried out. Ever decreasing circles. When you look at the huge existing talent pool in motogp, just why would another team accommodate him with his current mindset? Stop binning it, collect some points, prove he is a thinking rider and not just gung-ho! Then maybe other teams ‘might’ look. Even then, there is some outstanding talentabout to come through from moto2. It most certainly not given that MM could climb on another bike and click anyway. There have been plenty of top riders moving to another manufacturer, just to see them as also rans on the track.
Arguably though.... you can't find out how the chassis works unless you push it to the absolute limit. test riders like bradl who are 3 seconds a lap slower are just not gaining any useful evidence.
I agree, but there's pushing it to the limit to gain important data and there's being reckless and crashing, who much data do they get from smashed up bikes? I ask because I honestly don't know, but I would be surprised if they get anything useful.
I know it sounds obvious but you don’t know you are going to crash, even when he or any other rider is pushing, it’s not like us pushing on a trackday when the reality is that we are still only at 30% of that the bike can do (and almost all crashes are our mistakes, like standing the bike up and running on etc). I just think none of us mortals know how close they are to crashing all the time. sorry not trying to patronise etc, just genuinely think that to qualify on that grid they are all at 99% or what their machines can do all the time.
Spot on. If you could be a passenger on a single lap with any of them you would brown your race suit.
