The eight-time world champion has scored just 15 points in a woeful 2023 campaign, in which he has missed five grands prix due to various injury woes and crashed 14 times in eight rounds.
While Marquez is contracted to Honda through to the end of 2024, the problems Honda is facing in MotoGP at present have led to speculation that he could quit – with KTM thought to have contacted LCR and Gresini about fielding RC16s in 2024 for Marquez and Moto2 hotshot Pedro Acosta.
Marquez has so far refused to be drawn into the speculation on his future, and said on Friday at the British Grand Prix after ending practice down in 13th that his efforts to improve the bike together with Honda confirms his commitment to the marque.
“Now, of course, if I’m here then my intention is yes [I will ride for Honda],” he said.
“We are working for the future. In the Misano test we will try the 2024 bike and then we will see more, we will understand more where we are.
“The good thing with Honda is we have a very good relationship and we are looking always for the best for the project.
“For the moment the best thing for the project is to find a base, like we were doing today, to try the new things and maybe the new aero package in Austria – we will see what the Japanese decide.
“Always we have a good relationship and always we are doing the best for the project.”
Asked about comments KTM CEO Stefan Pierer made to Speedweek in recent weeks, where he said Marquez had been offered to the brand by his management, Marquez said: “I don’t talk with him [Pierer]. If my manager talked, I don’t know, I don’t have this information.”
Marquez said on Thursday that he will change his approach to the second half of the season following his crash-filled opening to the campaign, and insists he is still motivated despite not being able to fight at the front.
“I mean, I have the motivation to find the base,” he said when asked by Autosport how long he can keep up his new approach before it saps him of passion for his job.
“If you don’t have a solid base, you cannot think about the future, you cannot build a good future.
“So, this was the target today, to ride smooth, to get the confidence on the bike again, try to not have any warnings, any crashes.
“Of course, I pushed, but if you see a bit I used only one tyre in the end because I didn’t feel like I could push.
“And if I don’t feel I can push, I don’t want to push, like in the test. So, today I didn’t feel it and I didn’t push.
“Also, I used three soft tyres today, so for tomorrow if it’s not raining, for the final practice I have a used front. My target doesn’t change if I start 13th or 18th.”
Honda has used both its own chassis and a Kalex-designed one in 2023, but Marquez says “the problems were the same” on both and spent Friday at Silverstone “riding with the Portimao bike” that he put on pole for the season-opening Portuguese GP.
He also revealed that he has been struggling with pain in the right abductor muscle on his hip, which appeared in the last month as a possible consequence of an ankle injury he sustained in a crash at the German GP.
