Marquez drops hint fuelling rumours about a new girlfriend
Reports in Spain suggest he might have a new girlfriend - Maria Pedraza, the famous actress from his home country.
Marquez posted a social media picture after the Portuguese MotoGP of himself and Maria embracing. She posted a picture of herself at the circuit.
Maria, and her co-stars from the Spanish TV show that she features in, were guests of Marquez’s inside the Honda box in Portimao.
And Marquez and Maria were first romantically linked in 2021 but it looks like they may have rekindled.
It has otherwise been a week to forget for Marquez.
He crashed into Jorge Martin and Miguel Oliveira just three laps into the first full race of 2023, ending his own grand prix in the process too.
Marquez, and Oliveira, are out of this weekend’s Argentina MotoGP due to injuries sustained in the accident.
The Honda rider took full responsibility, and was labelled “dangerous” by Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti.
He was hit with a double long lap penalty to be served in Argentina, but FIM then changed the wording of the rule to ensure he must serve the punishment whenever he is next fit to compete. Honda have appealed.
Aleix Espargaro insisted he deserved a one-race ban for the incident.
The whole chaos is also a blow for Marquez’s title hopes this year - he is guaranteed to miss at least three of the 42 races, just two weekends into the 2023 season.
He also needed to undergo surgery on his hand injury.
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
