Marco Bezzecchi
Neil Hodgson thinks Marc Marquez “definitely” changed his body position at the 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix to feel more comfortable riding his Ducati GP26 during qualifying.
Marquez was one of the many riders who crashed during qualifying for the Brazilian GP this Saturday in Goiania. He fell at Turn 4 with 10 minutes remaining of Q2 shortly after setting a 1:17.491, which ultimately proved to still be fast enough for the 33-year-old to qualify in P3.
The Ducati star lost his front tyre trying to force his bike to turn in for the right-hand corner with too much speed. Michael Laverty felt Marquez took “liberties” before his crash during qualifying in Brazil as the Spaniard should have picked his bike up to go again and not crash.
Marquez returned to the circuit with his backup bike, but he could not improve his initial lap time and finished qualifying 0.081s adrift of the time that Fabio Di Giannantonio scored pole for the Brazilian GP with. The VR46 rider edged Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi to pole by 0.070s.
Marc Marquez scores his first win of 2026 in the Brazilian Grand Prix Sprint! Who was your rider of the race?
Neil Hodgson thinks Marc Marquez changed his riding style to be more ‘comfortable’ in Brazil
Despite the crash hindering his qualifying, Marquez won the Sprint at the Brazilian GP (once it eventually began, after a sinkhole on the pit straight caused significant delays). The Ducati star beat VR46’s Di Giannantonio by just 0.213s to secure his first win of the 2026 campaign.
READ MORE: All you need to know about the Brazilian Grand Prix, including Goiania stats
Hodgson kept close eyes on Marquez whilst on track during qualifying, prior to the sinkhole emerging on Goiania’s pit straight. The 2003 World Superbike champion felt he could clearly see Marquez adopting a different riding style to the one he used at the Thailand Grand Prix.
“What’s quite interesting was [when] you watch Marc in qualifying, normally, he struggles where there are lots of right-hand corners linked together, and I’ve noticed something. He’s definitely changed his body position,” Hodgson said on TNT Sports 2 (21/03, 17:48).
“He looks more ‘off the bike’. He looks more comfortable. Even last year when he won the championship and lots of races, he still looked ever so slightly awkward on the right. On the lefts, he looked completely natural.”
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Sylvain Guintoli then interrupted Hodgson to suggest that Marquez might have seemed less comfortable at the Thailand GP because of the pain he felt due to his shoulder injury, which he agreed with. Now, Hodgson believes Marquez looks “in tune” aboard his Ducati in Brazil.
“I think so,” Hodgson added. “I’m really interested. Maybe I’m thinking of the contrast of seeing Marc all weekend in Thailand looking awkward on the bike [and] uncomfortable. Here, he looks in tune.”
Marquez is still striving to regain full fitness in his right shoulder after he required surgery in October on the coracoid fracture and ligament damage he suffered in the Indonesian Grand Prix. Alex Barros thinks Marquez’s shoulder could take six more months to heal to 100% still.
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