It wouldn’t be unfair to say that the majority of the press corps who attended the San Marino Grand Prix at Misano felt the actual racing was something of an inconvenience. The traditional post-race test on the Monday was the far more important part of the weekend.
For the last few months, as Yamaha and Honda have languished at the bottom of the manufacturers’ standings and struggled for any kind of form resembling the results either used to enjoy, their respective superstars have become increasingly disillusioned.
Yamaha’s 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo has just two podiums to his credit in 2023, while Honda's eight-time title winner Marc Marquez has scored fewer points than KTM wildcard Dani Pedrosa – who has contested just two rounds this season.
Over the course of the San Marino weekend, Marquez’s future dominated headlines. As the Misano test signalled a pivotal point in what he does for 2024, he was heavily and continually linked to a shock Gresini Ducati switch. Some confidently wrote the deal was done, others think it’s ever more likely after Monday’s test.
Insight: 10 things we learned from the 2023 MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix
Marquez moved to play down the importance of the Misano test. Indeed, some believe he has already made his decision. He told the media on Monday midway through the test that, first, he had two options to decide on, before telling the Spanish media that he has three.
“Yeah, of course there is a deadline. Around India, Japan, I will decide,” he said. Marquez remarked over the race weekend that he was “enjoying” the speculation, a cryptic ‘something is coming’ post on the site formerly known as Twitter during the round confirming this contentment to stir the pot.
This all fed into his fairly generic answers about what he wanted from the test when asked about it by Autosport after finishing sixth in Sunday’s race, stating that he was looking purely for performance.
Source: Autosport