Marc Marquez: Every week a different rumour | New aero in Austria

Marquez’s current Honda contract officially runs until the end of next season but there have been regular rumours, never entirely extinguished by the eight-time world champion, that he might even make a shock team switch for 2024.

Quizzed on how crucial next month’s Misano test and first ride on next year’s Honda prototype will be when deciding where to race for 2025, the Spaniard replied:

“You are talking about 2025? The rumours for 2024 still haven’t finished! Every week there is a different rumour! So don’t start with 2025, please!

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​​​​​​“Joking aside, in Misano the new bike will arrive. We need to continue working. But there is no rush [to decide] for the future.

“It’s important to understand the level of the bike, and my level. I am pushing myself so I need to understand my level and how I feel.

“Now in the second part of 2023, I need to work on myself, to improve my level, to avoid the mistakes of this first part. Then we will have time to think about the future.”

Marquez: “Everybody must understand the situation is critical”

While responding positively to a recent interview in which HRC president Yasuharu Watanabe pledged to increase their commitment to the MotoGP project, Marquez warned:

“It’s important, the first step is to have the commitment. I believe that Honda have always had the same commitment. Everybody must understand the situation is critical and we must change something together.

“I say ‘we’ because I feel part of this project, and I want the best for it. They will invest more money and bring in more engineers. But as a rider we only evaluate [progress] on the race track, not in the office or with the technicians.

“I will evaluate the effort on the race track, riding the bike. Just like they evaluate my level. This is racing.”

Turning to this weekend’s event at the Red Bull Ring, an event Marquez missed last season due to the fourth operation on his right arm, the #93 confirmed he will continue the ‘new approach’ from Silverstone.

“The only change at Silverstone was to forget the result, and try to find the limit of our package,” he said.

“Sometimes you are taking risk. At Silverstone my target was to finish without a crash but unfortunately, in a race incident, I crashed on Sunday. Most importantly I rebuilt my confidence. This is the target again here.”

Marquez then revealed he has decided to homologate the new high-downforce fairing debuted by LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami at the British round.

“I’m working on myself, training, to improve. Honda is also working, as you will see tomorrow; I will try the new aero package. Let’s see if we can improve step-by-step, tenth-by-tenth.”

Repsol Honda team-mate will also have the new fairing and wings, which forms their one allowed in-season update.