Márquez without control of his right arm: Ducati shows it itself

• In his own team’s video, Márquez describes losing control of his right arm and being at risk of crashing
• Bagnaia was already complaining of pain on Friday, and his long-time crew chief was absent at Silverstone
• Gigi Dall’Igna calls the weekend sobering, but does not see it as a fundamental warning sign

After the British Grand Prix, the matter appeared to be settled quickly in public. Marc Márquez finished seventh, spoke of a muscular problem and said he was not worried. Four days later, Ducati released the new episode of its web series „Inside Ducati Lenovo Team“, which shows the weekend behind the scenes. The footage from the garage tells a different story – and it comes from his own employer of all places.

What did Marc Márquez say about his right arm in the Ducati video?

After the race, Márquez told his engineers that he had no control over his right arm and had been at risk of crashing. The tyre had worked better on Sunday, he said, but physically he was not at his usual level.

In the video, the crew gathers around him after the chequered flag. „Today the tyre was better. Physically I wasn’t there. I was at risk of crashing. I had no control over my right arm. Compared to practices… I lost the front at turn 1 and 9. I didn’t like it.“

The background is an operation on his right arm in May 2026 that relieved a trapped nerve. Silverstone was his weakest weekend since then. Over the summer break, Márquez had specifically built up the muscles in his shoulder and right arm, which is why many expected another step forward. From a medical point of view, a full return to his old strength had only been targeted for September anyway.

Why does that statement contradict his interviews?

In front of journalists on Sunday, Márquez played down the idea that there was a physical problem and explicitly said he was not worried. The garage footage, by contrast, shows a rider talking about an acute risk of crashing.

He had announced the difficult weekend himself. Silverstone would be a race about defending, similar to Assen, he had said beforehand. Just how much his body was limiting him only became tangible through the video. His self-assessment given to the press also reads differently in hindsight. At 33 he could adapt to a certain extent, he explained, but his riding style remained his own. The previous year he had struggled in the same places, but had still been able to recover in the direction changes. This year he was strong at other points and slower where he used to be quick.

On top of that came a misunderstanding in qualifying. Marco Bezzecchi lost a wing from his rear fairing, after which flags were shown. While riding, Márquez read the signal as yellow and backed off. Only in the garage did it turn out that it had not been a plain yellow flag. He started sixth, Francesco Bagnaia 16th.

How did the conversation between Márquez and Bagnaia sound in the garage?

The two riders discussed their physical limitations on Friday evening, and the video captures the dialogue. Márquez noted that with a physical problem you cannot attack on every single lap.

Bagnaia described the circuit as difficult in any case, and Márquez replied that he understood him. Then came the most revealing sentence of the weekend, spoken by Bagnaia: „When you have pain in your lower body, it’s easier. When you have pain in your upper body, it always limits you.“ Márquez agreed and added that you then cannot hold your body in the right position.

The sprint is also reviewed in the video. Márquez described how the soft rear tyre dropped off and said the bike had become virtually unrideable. On the side it had felt like a wet tyre, a sensation he had never had with that tyre before. Fabio Di Giannantonio had roughly the same problem, he said, and his brother Alex was the only exception.

What role did Bagnaia’s forearm surgery play?

Bagnaia had surgery on his right forearm over the summer break for compartment syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome. The procedure was less than a month old by the race weekend, and the consequences showed up immediately.

He was already complaining of pain in every right-hand corner in practice. To make matters worse, his long-time crew chief Christian Gabbarini was absent at Silverstone due to injury. Lorenzo Goglia, Ducati’s Head of Development and Strategy, stood in for him. On Friday, Bagnaia crashed towards the end of the practice session and missed direct entry into Q2 for the second time in a row. In qualifying he was around seven tenths of a second down on Franco Morbidelli, who rides the older GP25. It was his worst grid position since Valencia 2025 and he was the only Ducati rider watching Q2 from the outside.

In the race he lost the front at the exit of Luffield – the same place where he had also crashed at Silverstone the previous year. He could not find an explanation. In the video he looks at a loss and speculates that there may have been something on the asphalt that someone had dropped. There was no other way to explain it, he said.

Bagnaia himself draws a parallel that nobody at Ducati will like. In 2025 he also had a tough weekend at Silverstone and afterwards, apart from Motegi and Sepang, never really found form again. His conclusion is accordingly blunt: „We have to get back up, because I don’t want to go through another weekend like this.“ Aragon offers some hope, as he produced one of his better performances there last year, at the time with the larger brake disc.

How does Gigi Dall’Igna assess the weekend?

Ducati’s racing boss openly admits the weaknesses, but warns against drawing fundamental conclusions from a single weekend. The tone of his weekend analysis is sober.

„Oh, well, there isn’t much to say: we were never really in the running.“ From qualifying through to the race, the team had not found competitive pace for several reasons, and the necessary feeling for the Desmosedici had been missing. His addition to that: „Nothing particularly worrying.“

At the same time, Dall’Igna points to the unpredictability of the circuit and mentions the twelfth different winner in as many recent races. On Márquez he stresses that the rider had himself warned of a difficult race. He started strongly, stayed close to the podium for as long as possible and then kept fighting stubbornly, without taking unnecessary risks. He calls Bagnaia’s weekend one to forget and points out that the British circuit was anything but ideal after his forearm surgery. He explicitly adds that Bagnaia is not looking for excuses.

His summary of the overall picture is the sentence that sticks the most: „We take heed of a track that brings us abruptly back to the reality of a hard-fought championship against strong and indomitable opponents.“

Why is Ducati publishing its own world champion’s weaknesses?

That question remains open. It is unusual for a factory team to document the physical limits of its title contender itself and distribute them through its own channel.

The series has been running for some time and shows every race weekend behind the scenes, so this episode follows an established format. What stands out nevertheless is that the decisive information about Márquez’ condition does not come from an interview but from a video produced by the brand. Who benefits from it is not apparent. It is conceivable that Ducati wants to dampen expectations for the coming races. That cannot be proven.

What does this mean for the rest of the season?

At Silverstone, Márquez scored his weakest Grand Prix result of the 2026 season and left the circuit 40 points behind Jorge Martin, having been 18 points adrift before the weekend. That leaves him fourth in the overall standings.

For the second half of the season, a lot depends on how quickly his right arm can take the load. Next up is the Grand Prix of Aragon from 28 to 30 August, a circuit where Márquez took a double win last year. Dall’Igna expects the competition to have difficult weekends of their own, and states as a priority regaining the spirit the team had before the summer break. Within the 2026 season, Silverstone therefore marks less of a turning point than a reality check, the value of which will only become clear at Aragon.

Frequently Asked Questions