Marc Marquez walked out of the Indonesian Grand Prix even before the race, with a certificate of unfitness due to a concussion suffered after a horrific crash on Sunday morning. A few days later, diplopia returned for the third time to ruin his life and the question of managing a pilot who did not seem to be endowed with the basic instinct of self-preservation resurfaced, but with more virulence. Because we now fear all the more for the integrity of the driver as his team, starting with Alberto Puig, does not seem to have listed it as a priority. The team manager responds to these doubts. Without really lifting them…
Alberto puig didn't just make friends after the Indonesian Grand Prix. On the Mandalika route, his troops suffered, forced to lead a rearguard fight and regretting seeing their leader Marc Marquez end up forfeiting, after a fourth fall more violent than the three others already suffered.
Puig pointed Michelin who responded which further annoyed the team manager who counterattacked. During this time, many reminded him of his responsibilities in managing the drivers, always ready to go and ride until their last breath. Precisely, the management of a team is normally there to avoid reaching these extremes. Alberto Puig does not avoid the subject, but by giving the lie, he confirms a martial approach which in no way balances that of his pilot. On the Indonesian facts, he gives his vision as follows: “ the falls were brutal, but he had fallen several times before and nothing happened to him. We can't think that every time Marc falls, he will have this problem. What happens is that the Mandalika Falls were brutal. The last one especially was horrible. We all ran, we fell and it was a very ugly fall ».
He adds : " There's a lot of championship left and I can't go into negative mode and think that we can't do well. Worried yes, for him, but it doesn't stop there. We need to move on. Honda and Marc have only one goal, it's the championship. Things in racing change very quickly. If we take this reference, Indonesia was a disaster. But Qatar and the tests went well. The new bike, from the beginning, the riders think it works well. The situation is not the best, but with 20 races to go, you can't think we started badly, or be negative. Maybe you need to give racing another approach. But we must not forget that Mark is Mark, and that everything he gained was. And he has eight world titles ».
Alberto Puig: “I honestly don't know if we should change Marc Marquez's approach to racing"
One last remark which brings us to the heart of the matter: “ I honestly don't know if we should change the approach to racing. What I know is that people don't change. We also evaluate an event gone wrong. But if it had gone well the question would be very different » says Puig. “ You can always look for another type of strategy, but completely changing Marc Marquez I don’t think it’s a solution.”
The following is interesting: “ the problem was that he didn't run the race because of the shock. If he hadn't had this problem, despite the crashes he suffered this weekend, we believe he would have been leading the race, fighting for victory. Then it was in the wet and that's unknown, but in the dry we know he would have been in front ". The team manager even insists: “ after everything Marc has been through, I haven't seen any rider do what he does. When a pilot is afraid, it's over, and Marc has never been afraid. Neither with the falls suffered nor with the injuries, he never reached this realm of fear ". And that is perhaps the crux of the problem.
Alberto puig ends by even finding advantages to diplopia compared to a fracture: “ In these situations, the easiest thing is to throw in the towel, but the first one who never does it is the pilot himself who is at home, annoyed. The advantage of diplopia is that you see or you don't see. If you break your arm you come back and you have a disability. But with his eyes, when Marc comes back he will see clearly. Therefore, you will not have any handicap and you will be able to fight to win from day one. When Marc returns, he will surely do so to fight to win ».
For this return to MotoGP, it seems like Marc Marquez firmly believes that it is possible for this weekend in Austin, if we interpret correctly a video posted on his social network at the time of the Argentine Grand Prix…
