Marco Bezzecchi
Carlo Pernat suspects that Marc Marquez has already given up on the MotoGP season after a ‘worrying’ comment.
Marquez, 33, is already one of the greatest riders in MotoGP history, having won seven world titles so far in his career.
This year, the Spaniard has struggled as Ducati fell behind Aprilia in the pecking order.
Last month, Marquez suffered a huge crash during the Sprint in Le Mans, resulting in him requiring surgery on his foot and his troublesome shoulder.
Marquez made his return last weekend at Mugello, finishing in seventh place as Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi won the Italian Grand Prix.
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Carlo Pernat thinks Marc Marquez has given up on the 2026 season
Reacting to the race, Pernat picked out a ‘worrying’ comment Marquez made during the weekend in Italy and claimed that the Spaniard is already thinking about next season.
The Italian stated that Marquez will not be able to return to his former self due to his shoulder issues.
Pernat said to GPOne: “Ducati took a good beating, and the biggest beating is that of Marquez. But not because of Marquez, because of what is happening.
“With his shoulder, he can’t be the Marquez of old. And he said it himself, and this is the most worrying thing. He said, I don’t know if I’ll return to being the Marquez of old.
“His words, bad words, difficult words, but honest words. He is honest, he always is in racing and in saying the situation as it is. It’s clear the world championship is now almost gone.
“He’s taking risks. He, in my opinion, is preparing for next season. He’s trying to get himself physically right so that next season he can start beating everyone again.”
What did you make of Marc Marquez’s performance at Mugello?
The reigning champion finished seventh on his return
READ MORE: Marc Marquez reveals rival MotoGP rider was ‘obsessed’ with overtaking him in the Italian Grand Prix
Pedro Acosta reflects on Italian Grand Prix battle with Marc Marquez
During the Italian Grand Prix around the Mugello Circuit, KTM rider Pedro Acosta was involved in a tight battle with Marquez.
Acosta eventually came out on top as he finished one place ahead of the seven-time world champion.
Speaking about his duel with Marquez, Acosta said, as per Motorsport Italia: “Being behind a champion like Marc helped me see how he handles the different race situations.
“It always teaches you something. There were funny overtaking. We need more races like this that are spectacular. We control 70% of the situations. The other 30% not so much.
“I’m happy with the fight with Marc, you can always learn things from him and there were some good overtaking. I think we should be satisfied, considering how badly we started Friday.
“I stayed several laps behind him to see if I could figure out what he did to manage the tyres, or what race strategy he had. Because last year we suffered a lot with the tyres.
“It was good for me to calm down a bit, going after him. It’s battles like these that are needed to make people passionate again.”
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