Honda: Marquez will still find a way to be himself on MotoGP return

The German car manufacturer revealed its 2021 F1 challenger on Tuesday morning, but it was noticeable that it was not fitted with a floor that appeared optimised for the new rules - so was clearly not its new version.F1 has introduced new aero regulations for this year that demand an area in front of the rear tyre is cutaway, as well as limiting the use of holes, in a bid to stop teams ...Keep reading

Morbidelli's mentor and nine-time grand prix world champion Rossi will continue his MotoGP career into a 26th season in 2021 with SRT after losing his factory Yamaha place to Fabio Quartararo.Three-time MotoGP race winner Morbidelli was one of the first riders to be selected for the VR46 Academy, with Rossi a massive driving force in the 26-year-old's grand prix career.With the pair ...Keep reading

Mercedes announced in February that seven-time F1 world champion Hamilton had put pen to paper on a new contract with the team, keeping him on the grid for the 2021 season.It put an end to speculation about Hamilton's immediate future, but led to questions about what would happen beyond the end of 2021 as both parties had traditionally sought multi-year agreements.Mercedes team principal ...Keep reading

2019 FIA Formula 2 champion de Vries linked up with Mercedes following his championship victory, signing with its squad in Formula E ahead of the 2019-20 campaign.The Dutchman scored his maiden Formula E victory in the 2020-21 season-opening Diriyah E-Prix last weekend, dominating from lights-to-flag in the Friday race.Mercedes previously had ex-McLaren F1 driver Vandoorne and former Haas ...Keep reading

For the first time in his career, Rossi will not race a Yamaha in its factory colours after agreeing a one-year deal with SRT for 2021, but he remains on a works contract.Rossi hasn't won a grand prix since the 2017 Dutch TT and only scored one podium in 2021 - marking the first time this has happened since his first year with Ducati in 2011.Speaking after SRT's 2021 launch event ...Keep reading

Fabio Quartararo was Yamaha's leading rider for much of the 2020 season, with his three victories keeping him in the lead of the championship until the Aragon Grand Prix when a front tyre pressure issue dropped him to a career-worst 18th.From that point, Quartararo's title hopes quickly evaporated and he ended the campaign eighth in the standings.Yamaha's hopes of the constructors' ...Keep reading

The 2021 season will be SRT's third in the premier class, with the Yamaha satellite team in its short tenure already a six-time race winner.Last year, Morbidelli won three times on his way to runner-up spot in the championship, and ended up just 13 points behind title winner Joan Mir.For 2021, SRT welcomes nine-time grand prix world champion Rossi to its ranks, after the Italian legend ...Keep reading

The six-time MotoGP podium finisher joins the factory Honda squad from KTM in 2021, but will have just five days to get to know the RC213V in March before the opening round in Qatar.Espargaro should have had two days on the Honda at a post-season test at Jerez last November to have his first experience of the bike, but this outing was scrapped due to the COVID-19 pandemic.He also lost a ...Keep reading

Remarkably, 2021 will be Rossi's 26th season in the grand prix racing - having made his full-time 125cc debut in 1996 - and his 22nd in the premier class.Rossi's scorecard in MotoGP is legendary, the Italian amassing seven world titles, 89 race victories, 55 pole positions and a total of 199 podiums.The latest of those podiums came last season in the baking heat of the Andalusian Grand Prix at ...Keep reading

This will be Pramac's 19th season in the premier class as a standalone team (it did race in 2004, but in conjunction with the Pons team) and its 17th as a Ducati satellite squad.With Jack Miller and Francesco Bagnaia stepping up to the works Ducati team in 2021, Pramac will field a totally new line-up for the first time since 2013.Double Moto2 world champion Johann Zarco steps up from ...Keep reading

Mir ended a 20-year title drought for Suzuki last year when he won the 2020 MotoGP crown with a race to spare, having amassed one grand prix victory and a total of seven podiums.Suzuki has been MK Dons' title sponsor since 2014, and to celebrate Mir's championship win, the League One side will run a one-off shirt when it faces off against Oxford United this weekend.Fans will be able to win ...Keep reading

Marquez broke the humerus in his right arm in a crash in the latter stages of the opening round of the 2020 season and wouldn't race again following an aborted comeback attempt at the Andalusian GP.Following a second operation to fix the plate inserted into his arm during his first surgery - which broke when he opened a patio door at his home - Marquez's recovery proved slower than expected ...Keep reading

Gresini was taken ill with COVID-19 just before Christmas and was hospitalised on 27 December in Imola, before being transferred to a specialist COVID care ward in Bologna.On Tuesday, the Gresini team announced the Italian had lost his two-month battle with COVID at the age of 60.Dorna Sports' CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta led tributes to Gresini, stating on Tuesday morning: "I'm deeply saddened by ...Keep reading

The Italian was taken ill with the virus just before Christmas and was hospitalised on 27 December in Imola.As his condition worsened, he was transferred to a specialist COVID care ward in Bologna, where he remained up to his death.Having initially been put into a coma and onto assisted breathing, Gresini showed signs of improvement in January and was brought out of his coma.But in ...Keep reading

The Honda rider broke his right humerus in a crash during last July's Spanish Grand Prix, and has been out of action since making an aborted comeback at the following week's Andalusian GP having just undergone surgery.Marquez has had two operations since, the latest in December - where he underwent a bone graft - finally pointing his recovery in the right direction.His third operation was ...Keep reading

HRC's 2021 factory launch event signalled Marquez's first public appearance in Repsol colours since aborting his comeback from a broken arm during last July's Andalusian Grand Prix.Marquez will be joined by 2013 Moto2 world champion Espargaro, who joins from a four-year stint with KTM from 2017-2020 and marks HRC's third different factory team rider in as many years.Honda reported two ...Keep reading

Marquez was extracted from his Marc VDS Moto2 contract and placed at the factory Honda squad for 2020 after triple MotoGP world champion Jorge Lorenzo announced his retirement during the final race weekend of 2019.Despite an initially difficult start to his rookie season, Marquez would turn into one of Honda's leading lights, scoring the Japanese marque's only podiums with a brace of seconds ...Keep reading

The 2019 Moto2 world champion stepped up to the factory Honda squad in 2020 and was meant to partner his six-time title-winning brother Marc Marquez before he was ruled out of the campaign through injury after the Spanish Grand Prix.Alex Marquez would score Honda's only podiums of the season with a brace of seconds in France and Aragon.The younger Marquez brother had to field constant ...Keep reading