Dovizioso: “Impossible that Marquez joins Ducati, they don’t need him”

Marquez is contracted to Honda until the end of the 2024 MotoGP season, and as was visible again during last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix, the Spaniard is aboard a bike that’s not allowing him to show his full potential. 

The eight-time world champion crashed out of a Grand Prix for the fourth consecutive time, however, Marquez has battled for the podium in all three of the races he’s failed to finish so far this season.

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It means Marquez is once again out-performing his current bike, but at the same time the margin for error has never been smaller. 

Over his injury woes and back riding somewhere close to his best, Marquez appears back to his best which is why many see him as a title contender on the right machinery.

In the lead up to the Italian round Marquez alluded to Honda being his Plan A but that he wants to be part of a winning project no matter the manufacturer. 

What looked like optimism and belief in Honda soon turned to frustration when he crashed during Sunday’s race, as the Spaniard stood in gravel open armed as if to send a message to the Japanese brand. 

Using the example of Fabio Quartararo at Yamaha, Dovizioso said this about Marquez’s current predicament: "It’s difficult to see Marc fighting for the championship with Honda, like Fabio with Yamaha at the moment,” Dovizioso told MotoGP.com. 

"Marc doesn’t have the bike to do that. At this moment the Japanese bikes are not that good like in the past for many reasons. 

"They work in a different way and have to change a lot of things inside the structure to really step up like the European manufacturers. To do this takes years and years."

Dovizioso, who was recently inducted into the MotoGP Hall of Fame, ended his career with Yamaha and feels as though Japanese manufacturers have fallen behind those in Europe.

That’s why Marquez’s former rival thinks a switch is needed for the 30-year-old in order to fight for a world title, although he doesn’t see it being with Ducati.

"That’s impossible. That’s impossible because Ducati don’t need Marc. I think that the only way to win [the title] is to go to a different brand."