Marc Marquez once admitted that he was ‘thinking about other things’ when he crashed at the French Grand Prix

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The French Grand Prix has been one of Marc Marquez’s more challenging tracks through the years, and he has only ever won there three times.

It was a significant event in 2024 as it was the site of his first-ever Ducati podium with Gresini, confirming that he still had plenty of pace to use.

This year, Marquez arrives looking to avenge a gutting Grand Prix of Spain, where he crashed just laps into his home race, relegating him from race-winning contention.

He has still won eight of 10 MotoGP races on offer in 2025 and has shown dominant pace. Without two crucial mistakes, he might still have a 100% record.

Fans blamed a ‘bully’ rider for Marquez’s crash, but his teammate Francesco Bagnaia is finally showing signs of standing up to him.

Marquez emulated an embarrassing Lewis Hamilton moment by going to his old pit box in Jerez, showing that he hasn’t forgotten about the team that gave him his first Ducati break.

READ MORE: Alex Rins picks his MotoGP GOAT after racing against Marc Marquez and Valentino Rossi

Marc Marquez was ‘thinking about other things’ before 2021 French Grand Prix crash

After an underwhelming return to MotoGP at the start of the 2021 season, having sat out the entire 2020 campaign, Marquez was pushing to get back to his old form.

There’s a fine line between the limit and too much in motorsport, and at the French Grand Prix, the Spaniard learned the hard way.

After crashing at turn 13 during the race, he got back onto his bike, only to make another mistake at turn six, which turned out to be race-ending.

Speaking after the event, he told Autosport that he had allowed his mind to drift elsewhere before the incident.

“I’m angry to myself because the second crash was not necessary. I was more thinking about other things, about the position on the bike,” he said.

“I was just riding and I didn’t think about the track conditions. So, the second crash was something that was much better if I avoided. But overall the weekend was quite positive.”

READ MORE: Marc Marquez has done something at Spanish Grand Prix not seen since Valentino Rossi era

What happened to Marc Marquez for the rest of the 2021 MotoGP campaign?

After retiring at Le Mans, Marquez would go on to retire from the next two events too, before bouncing back with a win in Germany.

He took three wins en route to a seventh-place finish in the championship, but things got even worse in 2022 when he ended the campaign 13th.

By 2023 he had decided that he had to end his journey with Honda and left to ride a Ducati bike. It was an inspired decision.

Now he looks as quick as ever, and just needs to limit his mistakes to become a seven-time champion, after a six-year wait for more glory.