“I continue fighting because, in the end, my passion for racing is more than what I was suffering,” Marc Márquez says as he explains his long, slow comeback from a terrible series of injuries which, a year ago this month, led to him facing a fourth surgery on his upper right arm that included a 30-degree rotation of his humerus bone. Márquez has won six MotoGP world titles, but he has had many more horrific crashes.
His operation last year, at the renowned Mayo Clinic in the US, was a final chance for his surgeon to save him from early retirement. As the opening of a vivid behind-the-scenes five-part documentary series on him reveals on Red Bull TV, Márquez came close to quitting before surgery. “Is it worth it or not?” he said, his mouth crumpled as he struggled to contain his tears. “This suffering isn’t necessary.”
Márquez looks up now as, at home in Madrid, he remembers that painful low when he spoke on camera while crying. “I have been lucky all my career and I’ve had many different reports on me winning, always winning,” he says. “So it’s difficult when I opened my house, and my personal life [to the film-makers]. When you have these difficult moments the natural reaction is close in and don’t show people what you are feeling. Some people see us like heroes but we are humans and have difficult moments. We have doubts. We started the documentary thinking I will come back to the top. But then the situation changed a lot in the middle of the documentary and I was very close to retirement.”
How does Márquez feel when he watches himself being so upset on screen? “I recognised myself, and the people around me recognised again how I was feeling back then.”
It’s still rare to witness such dark moments in the life of a multiple champion – but they show how much Márquez had to overcome far from the glamour of MotoGP and his sumptuous wealth and fame. Did he fear for his racing future before surgery? “I was a bit afraid to take the decision.” He makes a strangled sound as he tries to capture his emotions then. “It was the fourth surgery so all the muscles in the arm are open. This was a bit risky because I have some nerves that are critical for the hand. But as soon I take the decision I was convinced.”
His right arm looks like it has survived a shark attack and, as he glances at it, he says: “I never counted the stitches [from his latest surgery] but there are many. Maybe 40. Inside the arm I have two metal plates with around 35 screws. So if you take an X-ray of my arm it is a bit strange.
“But now the arm feels OK. In the winter we worked and did big improvements so I was feeling good. But then I injured my hand [when crashing at the opening GP of this season in Portugal and then missing the next three races] and I couldn’t work with the arm.
But I had three weeks at home and I could work on it so now the function of the arm is quite normal. This is the most positive I have felt.”
As the documentary reveals, in race after race Márquez insisted on riding even when he was injured or in horrible pain. He even raced the Italian GP at the end of last May despite knowing that his ambitions for the season were ruined and he was only days away from flying to the US for surgery. It was the kind of gamble which replicates his extreme risk‑taking on the track. “This is one of my strong points and sometimes my weak point,” Márquez says. “It’s my killer mentality. I always attack, never defend. And this is my very ambitious mentality.
“Most of the time it gives me success and it’s very positive. But sometimes it can be a negative, right? For example, when I try coming back too soon from injury I need the good professionals around me to stop me. But I say to them: ‘When I’m injured I’m like an animal inside a jail.’ I also say to the doctor: ‘When you open this jail I’m an animal that wants to be out and I will run. So don’t open this jail before you think I’m ready to go.’”
After surgery last summer his season was meant to be over. “The doctors say to me: ‘The body takes more time and you will only be ready in November or December.’ But then the healing of the bone was going in a very good way and they say [last September]: ‘The bone is ready, you can start training.’ I say: ‘OK, the best way to continue the rehabilitation is on the bike.’ The bone was fixed but there was a risk because I had a big lack of power [in his arm].”
Márquez was racing again on 18 September 2022 at the Aragon GP in Spain and, incredibly, a month later he was on the podium in Australia. His father said Márquez’s second place in that race gave the former champion more joy than any of his 59 victories in MotoGP.
“I was very happy,” Márquez agrees. “Yes, it was only second but it was a very important podium. To finish last season was not easy and then came this gift. You always need to see some light at the end of the tunnel. So the light after that podium was more shiny.”
Márquez once believed that anything apart from winning was a failure but now, at 30, “I can understand that achievement in finishing second. So when I have good news now I will celebrate even more than before. Winning used to be normal. But now it’s not like this. So after some very difficult years it’s important to celebrate the good achievements because you never know if you will get injured again tomorrow or next month.”
Devilish bravado has underpinned so many of his MotoGP championships and it prompts Jorge Lorenzo, once Márquez’s most bitter rival after Valentino Rossi, to talk openly on the documentary. Lorenzo describes Márquez and himself as former “enemies” who now respect each other. He also says that Márquez is “the only rider who isn’t scared” of crashing.
“Yeah,” Márquez says with a small smile. “I may be. He said it – and I also feel I’m never scared. Maybe sometimes I’m taking too much risk but I cannot ride a bike worrying about the crashing. It is the only way I know to ride a bike fast.” How many crashes would he guess he has had in his 11 years of MotoGP? “I will say I have 20 a year. Maybe 250 crashes?”
This season has been another difficult one for Márquez so far, with his Honda team struggling to get their bikes in peak racing condition. But, when he returned at Le Mans last month after injury made him miss the three previous GPs, he immediately shook up the grid. Despite crashing twice in qualifying on the Friday he just missed out on pole position after a searing late lap from the reigning world champion, Francesco Bagnaia. In the race itself Márquez was in second place when, on the penultimate lap, he crashed at turn seven.
“It was one of the best weekends in my career. It’s not easy to come back after six weeks and straight away ride a MotoGP bike. I only had the green light from the doctors on the Tuesday and, without training in the proper way, I was still able to be fast. I led the race and I was able to fight for that second position. Unfortunately I crash but only because I was pushing for the podium. It was a mistake but now I need to just find the rhythm of a race again. Once I do that then everything will be easier. But that ambition to race brings me to the top in the past. I hope that brings me back to the top in the future.”
Last Sunday in Italy Márquez started on the front row of the grid alongside Bagnaia. But on lap three he crashed again while in fourth place and afterwards he gestured at his fallen bike in frustration. Márquez admits that challenging for the world title this season “is very difficult”, saying: “I am [116] points behind the leader [Bagnaia] and, as you say, we don’t have the bike to be the fastest. But we have a long calendar and let’s see if we can continue working and find the rhythm to win a race again.
“It’s not a secret. We know Honda is in a difficult moment and all their riders are struggling a lot. I hope that together we can improve the project. Now we maybe lose the way a bit and the bike is not competitive. But we will arrive.”
It is hard to believe that the voracious ambition of Márquez will accept failure much longer from Honda. Is he willing to move teams? “I have a two-year contract with Honda, so my target is to try to find the best because I’m convinced Honda can do it. Look what they do in Formula One where they [supply] the best engine for Red Bull. So I believe in them.”
Márquez leans forward to underline his next point about aiming to become world champion again. “I need the target. The target, the title, was there but it is now much more difficult because I was out three races. We show that we are fast in a single lap but now we need to improve the pace and be more consistent during a weekend.”
In his documentary Márquez says: “I consider myself a normal person. But on the track, at a race, I’m an asshole.”
He has been good company today but will he always be unchanging when racing? “Yeah,” he says with a grin. “But I said those words in Spanish and the translation is not quite right. The word they translate is ‘asshole’ in English but in Spanish it means something more like ‘smart’ [or cunning]. Sometimes the fastest guy is not winning because you need to be smart to find the moment. If you don’t have the right situation just try to shake it and change it.”
Fearlessness is also needed which perhaps explains why Márquez’s 92-year-old grandfather urged him to retire in the documentary before he had surgery. Márquez argued that he needed “one more chance” while his grandfather shrugged and said: “No matter what I say you aren’t listening to shit … You’re one of a kind.”
His grandad is right but does Márquez still dream of surpassing Rossi and Giacomo Agostini who, with seven and eight world titles respectively, have won the most MotoGP championships in history. “Of course, the more world championships you win the better,” Márquez says. “I have six and their seven and eight is better. But my biggest goal is to make this comeback from a big injury. Not many athletes can do this. I’m still in the process but I feel closer and closer. If I can make a successful comeback it will be even more important than another one or two world championships.”
