Neil Hodgson believes that Marc Marquez made a clear adjustment to his body position during qualifying for the 2026 Brazilian Grand Prix to help him get more comfortable on his Ducati GP26.
Marquez was one of several riders to go down during qualifying in Goiania. His crash came at Turn 4 with about 10 minutes left in Q2, but he had already posted a 1:17.491—a time that held up well enough to secure him third place on the grid.
The incident happened as Marquez lost the front while pushing too hard through the right-hander. Michael Laverty later commented that Marquez was “taking liberties” and should have picked the bike up instead of risking a crash in that moment.
After returning with his backup machine, Marquez wasn’t able to better his earlier lap. He ended up just 0.081 seconds behind Fabio Di Giannantonio, who took pole position by narrowly beating Marco Bezzecchi by 0.070 seconds.
Neil Hodgson says Marc Marquez adjusted his riding style to feel more ‘comfortable’ at the Brazilian GP
Although the crash affected his qualifying, Marquez went on to win the Sprint race once it finally got underway following a delay caused by a sinkhole on the pit straight. He edged out Di Giannantonio by 0.213 seconds to claim his first victory of the 2026 season.
READ MORE: All you need to know about the Brazilian Grand Prix, including Goiania stats
Hodgson, speaking on TNT Sports, noted that he saw a clear difference in Marquez’s approach compared to Thailand.
“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.”
Sylvain Guintoli then interrupted Hodgson to suggest that Marquez might have seemed less comfortable at the Thailand GP because of pain from his shoulder injury, which Hodgson agreed with. Now though, Hodgson feels Marquez looks “in tune” with his Ducati.
Marquez is still working back towards full strength after surgery in October for ligament damage and a coracoid fracture suffered during an Indonesian Grand Prix crash. Alex Barros believes it could take up to another six months before his shoulder fully recovers.
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