Marquez on Pedrosa “tension”; “make teammate’s life impossible”, warning to Mir?

Marquez joined the MotoGP grid in 2013, teaming with Pedrosa at Repsol Honda and incredibly winning the championship in his rookie season. They spent six seasons sharing a garage during which Marquez won five titles.

In his new Amazon Prime Video documentary ‘Marc Marquez: All In’ he has revealed the depth of the animosity with Pedrosa, the most successful MotoGP rider to have never become champion.

“Dani and I, now we get along great, and he’s an amazing person,” Marquez said.

“But in 2013 and 2014 there was tension. He was the king, the No1, and people listened to what he said in the box.

“Everyone expected something from him. The team was focused on him.

“And out of nowhere comes this kid, in his first year after Moto2. First race… boom! Second race, boom! And it’s a hard pill to swallow.”

Pedrosa admitted: “In those years there was a lot of tension because we were fighting for the same thing. 

“He knew about my potential. That’s why he always tried to stick to me, so I had no space to really take off.

“He’s very competitive. That’s his strong suit, how competitive he’s always been with everything.”

Marquez admitted that his competitiveness extended to intentionally trying to scupper Pedrosa’s bike by spreading false opinions.

“Back then we had a great bike and everything worked well,” he said. “So if a replacement piece worked for him, then I didn’t like it [and I would say]: ‘This doesn’t work, I want this one!’

“‘I want this replacement piece, since I’m leading! Don’t give him this!’

“That’s how it was.

“‘How about this piece? You want to try it?’ But I didn’t want to. I just didn’t want him to have it.

“It’s the kind of trick everyone pulls. People don’t talk about it.”

Their final two years together, where Marquez twice won the championships, were more cordial, he claims.

“After 2015, 2016, everything calmed down and we had a good, normal, teammates relationship,” Marquez said.

“After a while, I think you can learn to accept the situation, right?

“It happens, and I’m sure it’ll eventually happen to me too.”

Pedrosa, now a KTM test rider, looked back on the relationship: “Despite everything, despite how competitive we were with each other, we ended up getting along great.”

Since Pedrosa’s exit, Marquez has been teammates with Jorge Lorenzo for one season, his brother Alex Marquez in 2020, and Pol Espargaro for the past two years.

Joan Mir, the 2020 world champion with Suzuki, has moved to Repsol Honda this season forming an exciting partnership with Marquez.

It is comparable to Marquez and Lorenzo - two ex-champions in a dream duo. Marquez won the title that year but Lorenzo endured a nightmare, finishing 19th.

“I’ve never been a nice teammate,” Marquez said in words that might alarm Mir. 

“You’ve got to make your teammate’s life impossible, if you can.”