MotoGP: Honda Riders Crash Due to 'Winning Mentality', Says Marc Marquez

The courageous ride of Marc Marquez ended when he crashed while fighting for third place, but he was unharmed. This year at the Italian Grand Prix, Marc Marquez qualified first and started on the first row of the grid.

By Divyam Dubey

12 Jun, 2023

4 min read

Marc Marquez, a prominent member of the Honda MotoGP team, has expressed his concerns regarding the increasing number of collisions and injuries in recent races. He believes that these incidents are a combined result of the RC213V's present shortcomings and the 'winner mentality' of riders. After Suzuki withdrew from MotoGP, Honda seemed to have strengthened its roster by signing Joan Mir (to the factory team) and Alex Rins (at LCR). Despite a strong beginning, Mir has faced several crashes, and although Rins has shown flashes of brilliance, including a breathtaking victory at the Grand Prix of the Americas, he has also been inconsistent. With Joan Mir and Alex Rins both pulling out of the Italian Grand Prix due to injuries sustained earlier in the weekend, only Marquez and LCR's Takaaki Nakagami started Sunday's main race for the Honda team.

Also Read: MotoGP Italian GP: Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia Wins Home Grand Prix, Marc Marquez Crashes Out in Mugello

MotoGP Italian GP: Marc Marquez Mugello Crash and Championship Standing

Marc Marquez's heroic ride came to an end when he crashed while vying for third place, but he escaped the incident without injury. Marc Marquez qualified first and started on the top row of the grid for the Italian Grand Prix.

A strong start came to nothing @marcmarquez93 could hardly believe that he found himself in the gravel at Bucine! #ItalianGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/qLe9mQO1jE
— MotoGP (@MotoGP) June 11, 2023

There was a lot of pushing and shoving among the top five riders at the start of the race as they headed into the first curve, but Marquez managed to stay in fifth place. Four riders, including Marc Marquez and his brother Alex, as well as Jack Miller and Luca Marini, battled for the lead in the early laps. While battling for third place, Marc and Marini were able to pull ahead by a little margin.

MotoGP 2023 - Rider standings

Pos.	Rider	Num	Points	Team	Constructor
1	BAGNAIA Francesco	1	131	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati
2	BEZZECCHI Marco	72	110	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati
3	MARTIN Jorge	89	107	Pramac Racing	Ducati
4	BINDER Brad	33	92	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM
5	ZARCO Johann	5	88	Pramac Racing	Ducati
6	MARINI Luca	10	72	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati
7	MILLER Jack	43	62	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM
8	QUARTARARO Fabio	20	54	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha
9	ESPARGARO Aleix	41	54	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia
10	VINALES Maverick	12	53	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia
11	RINS Alex	42	47	LCR Honda	Honda
12	MORBIDELLI Franco	21	46	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha
13	MARQUEZ Alex	73	41	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati
14	FERNANDEZ Augusto	37	31	Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing	KTM
15	DI GIANNANTONIO Fabio	49	27	Team Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati
16	NAKAGAMI Takaaki	30	24	LCR Honda	Honda
17	OLIVEIRA Miguel	88	21	RNF MotoGP Team	Aprilia
18	MARQUEZ Marc	93	15	Repsol Honda Team	Honda
19	PEDROSA Dani	26	13	KTM Test Team	KTM
20	BASTIANINI Enea	23	8	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati
21	FOLGER Jonas	94	7	Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing	KTM
22	PETRUCCI Danilo	9	5	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati
23	PIRRO Michele	51	5	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati
24	MIR Joan	36	5	Repsol Honda Team	Honda
25	SAVADORI Lorenzo	32	4	RNF MotoGP Team	Aprilia
26	FERNANDEZ Raul	25	3	RNF MotoGP Team	Aprilia
27	BRADL Stefan	6	2	Repsol Honda Team	Honda
28	LECUONA Iker	27	0	Repsol Honda Team	Honda

Unfortunately, on lap six, Marquez lost the front at Turn 15, which sent him out of the race. Despite being severely disheartened, Marquez escaped the crash unscathed. The Spaniard said that 'Honda have riders with a winner mentality' in a post-race interview.

He further said, 'If you put in riders with a winner mentality, and you don’t have the chance to be up there, the problem is that you will crash more and more times because we are pushing more than the others to be on that lap time. And this is what happened. But yeah, I keep going, I keep pushing, and we need to be together and work with the team to change the situation for the future, for these next races, the second part of the season and especially for next year.'

Also Read: Massimo Rivola, Aprilia Racing CEO: Happy to take a step back and reduce aero effect | Interview

MotoGP: Honda Kalex Chassis

Honda's decision to debut the Kalex Chassis at the Jerez Test marked a significant shift for the company, which has traditionally preferred to keep motorcycle design in-house.

MotoGP Honda Kalex Chassis at Jerez Test jpg

The Kalex chassis gave a noticeable boost in the Le Mans race last month, but according to Marquez, it wasn't ideal for the tight turns at Mugello. In spite of briefly considering the regular Honda version on Saturday, he ultimately decided to go with the Kalex chassis.