Marc Marquez: Why “I don’t like” stability control

Marc Marquez is concerned that the latest enhancement to the MotoGP ECU will further erode rider influence.

The new electronic feature, known as stability control, will operate alongside the existing traction control system within the unified ECU software.

While traction control, which focuses on wheelspin, is a familiar part of MotoGP, stability control takes an even more advanced approach. 

It measures the amount of sideways movement relative to forward momentum before deciding whether to limit a slide by reducing torque.

MotoGP announced the move on the grounds of “increasing the safety of the sport” since there are some on-throttle highside scenarios not currently covered by traction control.

For example, at high lean angles, a bike can slide sideways even without excessive wheelspin.

The ECU upgrade was tested by all manufacturers before being given the green light for introduction this weekend.

“It's just easier to ride”

However, Ducati's title leader Marquez, who may have benefited from the slide control system during some of his past brutal highsides at Honda, isn’t convinced.

“For me, it’s clear the more things you introduce on the bike, in this case electronics, the less difference the rider can make,” Marquez said. “So I tested this new control in Aragon and also in Malaysia and it's just easier to ride.

“You can be against [rely on] the control and the bike is doing everything, so as a rider, I don’t like it. If it’s safety or not, in the end, every manufacturer has a different point of view.”

Marquez also suggested that technological advances such as ride height devices and aerodynamics have already reduced the kind of close, late-braking battles he was famously involved in against Ducati riders at the Red Bull Ring in the past.

“This is a good track for racing, but creating the kind of battles in the past was better [before] because now the rear device and especially the aerodynamics affect a lot when you’re riding behind somebody,” he said.

“Because you cannot brake at the same point. You cannot turn at the same point.

“But in the past, as we saw, there were some great fights because there was no rear device and the effect of the aerodynamics was much less. So now we will see, but I don’t think that we can have this kind of fight [this weekend].”

Marquez is seeking to continue a ten-race win streak with his first-ever Red Bull Ring victory.

Ride height devices and aerodynamic performance will be restricted when MotoGP switches to 850cc machinery in 2027.