Marc Marquez: MotoGP ‘going the opposite way to F1’ on aero

Along with stricter tyre pressure enforcement and a stop-go track layout, the influence of downforce and dirty air was cited as a reason for the lack of overtaking in last weekend’s Austrian MotoGP.

“I already said about this two, three or four years ago," Marquez said, when asked about the quality of the ‘show’ on Sunday. "But some people are against the aerodynamic things, other people are in favour.

“And then if you say something [against aero] people say, ‘it’s because you cannot adapt to these aerodynamics’.

“You can adapt. But the actual MotoGP [show now] depends much more about your bike, because if you don't have the aerodynamics, you don't have the traction…

“And then to attack and overtake riders becomes more and more difficult. It becomes like Formula 1. And Formula 1 is going in the opposite way.

“Looks like [F1 wants] less downforce and less effect about the aero. And we are going in the opposite way. Every time bigger, bigger, bigger.

“It looks like in 2027 it will change, but it's too late. I mean, three [more] years like this, the development is going to have more and more and more downforce.”

One rider that did make substantial progress in the race was Jorge Martin.

The Pramac Ducati rider qualified in twelfth, climbed quickly to seventh, but then dropped to 13th after serving a long lap penalty.

The Spaniard, who fought through to seventh again, pointed the finger at the higher starting tyre pressures needed to avoid a risk of a post-race penalty, under the new system of stricter pressure enforcement.

“It’s a pressure thing. With these pressure limits,” Martin said of the spread-out racing. “Normally we go into the [correct tyre pressure] range on the ninth lap and already on the first lap I had a good pressure! So this means at lap nine, I was overheating quite a lot.

“I felt it. You cannot follow [closely] because the tyre gets overheated. It is really difficult.

“That is why coming from 13th was very complicated and as soon as I had [fresh air] I pulled six seconds away from the rider behind.

"It is very difficult to follow and we need to find a way, otherwise it will be very boring racing.”

The Spaniard felt the addition of a chicane between turns 2 and 3, introduced last season, has only added to the issue.

“It is another braking point that overheats the tyres more. But for sure it is also less dangerous for the third corner,” he said.

The current five-year cycle of technical rules runs until the end of 2026. Any changes before then can only be made on safety grounds or with unanimous agreement from the five manufacturers.