The king of the ring has vacated his throne.
Marc Márquez didn’t race in the German Grand Prix on Sunday but still managed to be the weekend’s most significant talking point after a crash-prone weekend that took his ailing Honda relationship to a new nadir.
His final crash in the Sunday warm-up convinced him and the team that it would be best for him to sit out the race.
Perversely it maintains his 100 per cent MotoGP victory record for every race he’s started at the Sachsenring, but there’s no mistaking Sunday for anything other than a black day in the Spaniard’s career — and almost certainly a pivotal one.
It was the parallel narrative to the on-track action which saw a new entry into the championship battle and a new tension emerge inside the Ducati camp ahead of a crucial final round before the July mid-season break.
Having been the comfortable favourite to defend his championship for so much of this year, Francesco Bagnaia is no longer alone at the top of MotoGP.
Here are the winners and losers from the German Grand Prix.
LOSER: HONDA AND MARC MARQUEZ
The German Grand Prix had been shaping for several weeks as the stress test for Márquez’s relationship with his bike and with the Honda team that built it.
The Spaniard’s record at the Sachsenring is almost unbelievably good. Only in his first two seasons in the lightweight 125cc class did he not mount the top step. He’d won every race he contested in Saxony since the third year of his international career in 2010.
His affinity for the place had previously been thought to be unshakeable, which is why this loomed as such a serious weekend.
Márquez’s unhappiness with his RC213V — in fact the unhappiness of the entire Honda stable of riders — has been clear and growing through the season.
It’s not just that it’s slow; it’s also wildly unpredictable when taken anywhere near the limit of its capabilities.
The consequences are dire for those who push the boundaries. Márquez illustrated that with five crashes at the weekend, high even by his standards.
Three of those came in qualifying, one of which injured his ankle.
The final one in the warm-up, however, was more damaging. Not only did it fracture his hand for the second time this season — he was declared fit to race regardless — but it also appeared to shake his belief.
“I don’t feel ready to race,” he said in a short statement to Spanish broadcaster DAZN, announcing his withdrawal. “I’ve taken a lot of body blows.
“I’m not ready.”
The ultimate vote of no-confidence in the Honda project.
That came a day after Márquez admitted to effectively giving up in the sprint and cruising to 11th, admitting the risk of injury was too great a price to pay in exchange for at best a handful of points — a very un-Marc approach.
There’s a certain amount of intrigue in the decision for Márquez not to race.
The call came following crisis talks with HRC after the warm-up. While the super-brief Honda statement said Márquez had “elected” to miss the race, veteran journalist David Emmett has reported that Honda had hauled him in, deciding it would be better not to risk having the six-time champion injure himself further.
You can understand why the Japanese company might’ve made that decision.
There was clearly a low-key agitation in Márquez all weekend.
There was the uncharacteristic flipping-off of the bike after saving a frightening high-speed wobble during Friday practice.
But most of all there was his reaction to his monster crash with Johann Zarco.
Having cleaned up the Frenchman — in what was, to be fair, an unfortunate racing incident — the Spaniard sprinted away from the scene of the accident to get on his second bike in a vain attempted to make automatic Q2 qualification.
Even with the red flags flying, stopping the clock, Márquez didn’t stop to ensure Zarco was unhurt — and afterwards he said the balance of responsibility lay with the Pramac rider, not with himself, despite having instigated it all by coming off his bike in the braking zone.
Whatever the case — whether Márquez or Honda ultimately pulled the trigger — it reflects badly on the entire sorry situation.
You can’t help but feel it’s destined for a certain split. After Germany it’s just a matter of timing.
WINNER: JORGE MARTIN
Jorge Martin slipped gracefully and effortlessly onto Márquez’s vacated throne as king of the Sachsenring, dominating the sprint and outracing Pecco Bagnaia to top spot in the grand prix in a thrilling duel to score maximum points.
Only in qualifying was he anything less than perfect, starting sixth — not that that proved any impediment in either race session.
It’s difficult to believe it was only the second grand prix victory of his highly rated career.
The speedy Spaniard showed the poise of a rider with far more winning experience to close out victory on Sunday ahead of an equally composed Bagnaia.
His defensive tactics were on the limit but perfectly judged. When he briefly lost the lead, he calculated his way back ahead rather than trying to strike back immediately and risk a mistake.
He got the maximum from his bike — the same factory-spec Ducati bike Bagnaia was riding.
And that’s what’s so impressive.
We’ve talked a lot about the prospects for KTM and Aprilia this season. At some circuits those bikes will come to the fore and give Ducati a proper run for its money.
But Martin had only equal machinery at his disposal to dispose of the reigning champion, and he did so comprehensively from Saturday to Sunday, taking him to within 16 points of the title lead.
An independent rider has never won the championship, but the conditions look right this season for Martin to give that record a crack.
LOSER: APRILIA, ALEIX ESPARGARÓ AND MAVERICK VIÑALES
Time has run out for Aprilia to mount a title challenge in 2023. The promise of last season will go unfulfilled for another year at least.
MotoGP’s other Italian bike has taken an undoubted step forward this season, but the progress hasn’t been as significant as for Ducati.
KTM has also taken a far larger stride from its inconsistent low base of 2022 to pull clear of the RS-GP.
“I said from the pre-season that I like my [2023] bike. But the bike is three or four per cent different than the 22 spec,” Aleix Espargaró said, per Crash. “This is why we didn‘t improve enough.
“I didn‘t expect that Ducati improved that much from last year, but they did. I think [the German Grand prix] was 20 seconds faster. So we don’t have the level.”
The team is a distant fifth in the standings and the bike is way off in third on the manufacturers table.
Espargaró is already 105 points down in the riders championship, with Viñales two points further back.
Aleix’s difficult triple-header started badly with a broken right foot and fractured ribs last week, and it got worse this weekend, with no points scored after a dodgy gamble on the soft tyre for the race that saw him fade to 16th.
Viñales, meanwhile, suffered his second mechanical retirement of the season, leaving him with three DNFs in total.
No one of any of these events has been a killer blow, but sloppy execution and a bit of bad luck has been enough against a sea of faster Ducati bikes to put paid to the title after just seven rounds.
WINNER: KTM AND JACK MILLER
Aprilia’s loss is KTM and Jack Miller’s gain, however, with the Austrian marque revelling in the chance to be Ducati’s closest challenger.
He was in fine form again this weekend, qualifying third and making lead-grabbing starts on Saturday and Sunday.
The package isn’t quite ready to win over a grand prix distance yet, though at some tracks it’s missing only small percentages.
This weekend Miller put his inability to hold his leads down to difficulty nailing a single corner: the tricky Waterfall, turn 11.
But perhaps the Aussie’s weekend will be better remembered for the spray he dished out to his non-Ducati rivals, who also find themselves off the pace of the leading Italian team.
“We‘re the only ones not complaining about our motorcycles and we’re actually trying to do something about it, to fix [the gap to Ducati],” he said,. “Everyone else, all they do is throw their toys out of the cot and say that, ‘My bike’s s**t’. It’s as simple as that.
“Everybody wants to complain about their own bikes. Nobody wants to do anything about it. Shut the f**k up and get on with the job.
“You’re paid to ride a motorcycle, not to be a f**king princess and complain about your bike!”
Certainly the attitude seems to be working for Miller and his new team.
