Until last Sunday, there was a big parallel between Lewis Hamilton and Marc Marquez. Both are the most successful drivers in Formula 1 and MotoGP respectively, but both were lagging behind their glory days and a win since 2021. Hamilton has now changed that with an emotional triumph at his home race in Silverstone. Marquez showed an outstanding performance in the race at his beloved Sachsenring, but he once again only came second. What will it take for the Spaniard to redeem himself?
Hamilton wins out of nowhere, Marquez always finishes second…
In fact, so far this season it looked more like Marquez would end his dry spell first. Before Silverstone, Hamilton had only one podium finish, but there he showed a masterful performance in the rain. Rain has not helped Marquez so far this season. He took pole position in the wet qualifying in Jerez, but the race was always dry in 2024. At the last rain race of the MotoGP in Motegi in 2023, he made it onto the podium for Honda for the last time.
The Spaniard is actually having a much more successful season on the Ducati Desmosedici GP23 of the Gresini team than Hamilton, who is eighth in the world championship in the premier class on four wheels. Marquez, on the other hand, has been in third place in the MotoGP world championship for some time and has achieved many podium finishes. But victory has not yet come his way, as Francesco Bagnaia or Jorge Martin have always prevented it. The 31-year-old has finished second in races three times and has even finished second five times in the sprint.
The goal: Finally a whole weekend without problems
What was missing for the big triumph? Marquez blames himself. “The first half of the season was good, but not very good, because I made a few mistakes,” he says. The future Ducati factory rider then went on to clarify what he meant by this: “The only thing we really have to work on is getting a good weekend as a whole. Every weekend, some small thing or even something bigger happens. I will keep fighting and be supported by the two top guys at Ducati. [Francesco Bagnaia und Jorge Martin, Anm. d. Red.] learn. They are a little faster than us.”
The Sachsenring was a good example. A crash on Friday meant Q1. In this he was blocked by Stefan Bradl and so only started from 13th place. In the race there was a big comeback that ended – how could it be otherwise – in second place. The result is a whopping 20 points, but the longed-for victory was missing once again. That cannot and does not want to happen to him again in the second half of the season: “I made two big mistakes in Austin and in the sprint in Assen in particular. The rest was still acceptable, but too inconsistent. I was able to save it in Le Mans and in other races too, but we have to be more consistent and move straight into Q2.” And then will probably come his first victory in years. That should happen by 2025 at the latest, because then he will also be driving a current Ducati.
What do you think? Can Marquez still win in 2024, or are Bagnaia and Martin too strong on the GP24? Tell us in the comments!