Alex Marquez: Surgery decision ‘a weight off Marc’s shoulders’

The decision was made during the Italian MotoGP weekend, after a phone call from doctors analysing his injury in America.

Marquez, who went on to claim tenth place in Sunday’s race, said he breathed a sigh of relief at being told doctors had identified a clear problem that can be addressed to improve his arm mobility, making the decision to operate - for a fourth time - ‘easy’.

Younger brother Alex confirmed: “It took some weight off his shoulders. I think now he's more happy. [On Saturday] we went into my hospitality to have dinner and he was really happy, relaxed.

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“This is the best way that he can approach this situation. Before the other surgeries, he was more worried. He knows that this one is complicated but a little bit less complicated than the other one.

“So he's relaxed, happy. And not only him, but all the family and his team took a little bit of weight [off their shoulders].”

Although Marc’s recovery time is unclear, the eight-time world champion spoke of turning his attention to 2023 and most believe it will be at least several months before he’s back on a MotoGP bike.

Alex, who finished the Mugello race in 14th for the LCR team, said that he’s happy to help Honda with extra testing duties during his brother’s absence.

“I already said to Honda, I’m open to try things. I'm open to work. I'm ready for that. I think my feedback is not bad and always similar to Marc,” said the #73.

“So, I'm open for that challenge if Honda wants to have my opinion. I will be open to try everything, to try to improve our bike. There’s still a lot of season to go and we want a better bike to enjoy the second half.”

‘Problem is not the engine’

Despite impressive winter testing form, Honda’s all-new RCV has only taken one podium, in the hands of Pol Espargaro, so far this year.

“The good news is that the problem is not on the engine,” Alex Marquez said, referring to the in-season ban on engine modifications. “The problem is more about the chassis and the [geometry]. So it's something that is open [for development] and we can make a lot of modifications.

“So I hope and I believe that we can have a better bike because last year after the summer break we did a really good step forward. And I hope this year we can make the same.”