Just four days after the first round of the MotoGP season wrapped up in Portugal, the premier class was back at it in Argentina with barely enough time to catch its breath.
Squeezing 21 rounds — now comprising 42 races — into a season is no easy feat, and the races will come thick and fast all the way to Valencia in November.
But that’s more than just a logistic issue or even a challenge for rider health and fitness — no small call considering five riders didn’t contest the grand prix on Sunday through injury.
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It’s also a massive challenge for rider form.
Second chances don’t come often in motorcycling’s top category, and it doesn’t take many races to slip into a vicious circle of poor performance — exactly the kind of scenario that must be avoided for riders already on their final warnings.
So just how valuable were strong results for the under-pressure Alex Márquez and Franco Morbidelli at Termas de Río Hondo at the weekend?
Let’s start with Márquez, who took a sensational maiden pole on Saturday followed by fifth in the sprint and his first podium in three seasons in the grand prix — crucial tonic following a career near-death experience last year.
Márquez’s MotoGP career immediately got off on the wrong foot after his promotion as reigning Moto2 champion to the factory Honda team in 2020.
During that year’s long pandemic delay he was offered an extended deal, but it came in exchange for a demotion to the satellite LCR team from 2021 without even having had the chance to prove himself on works machinery.
“Honestly, in that moment I did not really agree with that decision,” he reflected earlier this year.
“That decision was a little bit hard for me, and I didn’t feel productive inside LCR for Honda — not for the team, for Honda.”
Worse, he was arriving at Honda as it entered a competitive wilderness. Though he was the only rider on a RC213V to mount the podium in 2020 via a pair of second-place finishes, he struggled for consistency in the following two years as the manufacturer wallowed further and further down the grid.
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Out of contract last season, his biggest problem was Suzuki’s withdrawal from the sport, ejecting world champion Joan Mir and the highly rated Álex Rins onto the market. With the second LCR seat earmarked for a Honda-backed Japanese rider, the push to recruit both Suzuki stars meant Márquez’s days were numbered.
But the Spaniard secured a lifeline at Gresini in Enea Bastianini’s race-winning seat — though it was on a one-year deal; a punt on the fast-fading history of his Moto2 and Moto3 championships.
He needed to perform from day one.
“In MotoGP there is no adaptation that counts,” he said ahead of the season. “In the end I have a year on my contract and I have to give everything from the first race.
“We will have to go for the best results … I want to focus on working race by race and without thinking too much about the future.”
On the Ducati bike — last year’s title winner — he appears to have rediscovered his mojo. The signs were there during pre-season testing and his results have confirmed it — fifth in the grand prix in Portugal followed by his breakthrough pole in Argentina.
And he says there’s still plenty more to come.
“I couldn’t imagine a start like this with Gresini and Ducati,” he said, per Crash. “I feel really good on the bike, I felt really good with the team.
“Still I’m not riding in the best way for the Ducati. It’s where I need to work a little bit more. But day by day we are doing better things.”
With Fabio di Giannantonio so far covered, this could be the beginning of the rebirth of Alex Márquez’s career.
But his isn’t the career most in need of revitalisation this year. Not even close.
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Franco Morbidelli has openly admitted he’s still racing this year only because he already had a long-term contract signed with Yamaha before his annus horribilis in 2022. His form on what Fabio Quartararo proved was a title-contending bike would never have seen him retained in any other situation.
His lack of performance at the factory team is baffling — don’t forget that less than three years ago he got to within 13 points of the world championship with the satellite SRT team. His promotion to the factory squad halfway through 2021 was therefore a no-brainer, even considering the recovery required from surgery on an injured knee.
But his campaign last season was dreadful. He finished inside the top 10 just twice on his way to 19th in the standings with only 42 points. Teammate Quartararo amassed 248 points — an increase of almost 600 per cent — and was in title contention until the final round.
His career starts 2023 on ropes. Anything less than a campaign that broadly matches Quartararo won’t be enough.
Positively, for only the second time in their history as teammates, Morbidelli beat his French counterpart over the course of the race weekend in Argentina.
He was faster in qualifying and finished just off the podium in fourth in both the sprint and the race, his best result in two years. Quartararo struggled — admittedly with a little help from Taka Nakagami on Sunday — to ninth and seventh.
It was a glimpse of the old Morbidelli. Had you missed all last season, you might even have found the performance unremarkable.
“It was nice,” Morbidelli said, per Autosport. “I even led the race for a couple of laps. It felt unbelievable, it felt so good. And then I had less potential than the Ducatis.
“I tried to make the maximum and bring home the best result I could.
“These kinds of performances are good fuel for me.
“[I needed this] a lot. I’m full of joy.”
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There are some caveats, though. Morbidelli has always tended to be more effective in low-grip conditions, and not only is the Argentina circuit unusual in the amount of traction it yields, but the rain on Saturday and Sunday also obviously helped in that regard.
But that should take nothing away from his performance, which may be more important than the result itself.
“I take this as a great confidence injection for me and for the team also,” he said, per Crash. “I‘m looking forward to seeing if the improvements and the good feeling I had here continues in Austin.”
Confidence is key for the 28-year-old Italian. While it’s true it takes a particular riding style to get the best out of the Yamaha, it’s also true to say that he hasn’t simply forgotten how to ride in the last three years. A boost in confidence and a bit of momentum might be what he needs to not only remind the grid what he can do but also save his career.
The Argentine Grand Prix could end up being the first important step on that journey — though it remains only one step, with Yamaha turning the screws this week by giving highly rated Superbike World Championship rider Toprak Razgatlıoğlu a two-day private test at Jerez alongside development rider Cal Crutchlow.
Razgatlıoğlu, the 2021 champion and last year’s runner-up with the factory team, has long been rumoured to be eyeing a switch to MotoGP, but with Yamaha lacking satellite partners, the only way into the sport would be alongside Quartararo.
The 26-year-old Turkish rider isn’t a done deal, but it’d be difficult not to give him a chance if Morbidelli continues to be as unimpressive as he was last year.
The ball is in Franco’s court to keep himself out of the MotoGP silly season.
