Marquez: Rossi and I have different racing mentalities

Marc Marquez says it is 'admirable' that Valentino Rossi still wants to race in MotoGP, but 'different mentalities' between the sport's biggest stars means the Spaniard will call it a day when victory is no longer possible.

Nine-time world champion Rossi hasn’t won in MotoGP for almost four years and is currently enduring his worst start to a grand prix season, with a best result of eleventh in the five rounds so far leaving him 19th in the standings.

Asked about Rossi's desire to continue racing, Marquez told SkySport.it:

"His approach is admirable, after all he has achieved, he still wants to race but we have different mentalities. When I can no longer win and fight for the wins, I will stop. I am not made to race for 15th position".

Rossi, currently on a one-year deal with Petronas Yamaha but now with the added option of racing for his own VR46 team, has said he will make a decision on his 2022 plans during the summer break.

The 42-year-old Italian always cites 'results' as the most important factor, but the judgement is more in terms of 'being competitive' than a specific championship position.

Marquez is also going through a victory drought of his own, since November 2019, albeit for very different reasons.

The Repsol Honda rider only recently returned to action after lengthy complications from an arm fracture at the 2020 season-opener and is yet to finish higher than seventh place.

The eight-time world champion believes it will take him until after the summer break in Austria to ergain the physical fitness to "ride the way I want", revealing that last October and November the fracture "was moving. I ate at home, I took my fork and my arm moved."

The #93 later underwent a third round of surgery in December, where an infection was diagnosed and subsequently treated.

With Marquez sidelined, an unpredictable 2020 season emerged featuring a record nine different winners from 14 rounds. Joan Mir was one of the them, the Suzuki youngster claiming the crown on the back of seven podiums, with only one victory.

But Mir is only sixth in this year's standings and already 31 points from Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo. Marquez hints his countryman may have got his tactics wrong.

"Winning is difficult but defending is more [difficult]," Marquez said of Mir, who has one podium finish so far. "This year Quartararo, Bagnaia and Rins are going faster than him.

"Mir is making the strategy of last year, trying to finish all the races, but finishing all the races, you win the world title once, not many times."

Marquez added: "I think the championship will be between Quartararo and Bagnaia. Bagnaia is strong, he is constant and does not have the pressure of having to win the world championship, like Mir in 2020".

Marquez was also asked for his opinion on one of the anomalies of this season, that last year's title runner-up Franco Morbidelli is still racing a largely 2019-spec Yamaha at Petronas.

"Last year he was the first Yamaha, if I were Yamaha I would give him everything official," Marquez said. "Morbidelli is [good enough to be] a factory rider, if Yamaha doesn't take him, Suzuki, Honda or Ducati will take him but he's a factory rider."