all my f1 and motorsports reblogs

- He would prefer a psycho hater moving next to him and watch his every move than having dinner with his boss every day. Marc said that the psycho hater wouldn't make him use his time (valuable bc you can't have it back), and he doesn't invest time in haters, it's the opposite.

- He would tell a brand secret before a friend's because athletes are transient for brands. Friends, if you take good care of it, can be forever.

- His inflexible clause when signing contracts is how many days he needs to go to events. He also appreciates flexibility and coherency.

- When asked how much does he listen to haters he answered zero. It's something he learned with time. And he said people hiding behind social media saying whatever, it's people with too much time and no accountability.

Day 2 of the Sepang Test, 2026

Collin as Gingham

Izan as Leopard

Rue as Paisley

Carpe as Checkerboard

1990 Suzuki

marc didn’t expect a 7x world champion to care enough to know so much about a 125cc rider — marc was scoring points, sure, but it would take two more years for him to win a race — but vale knew his name and his team and his bike by his sixth race in the 125cc class (catalunya 2008) and this encounter shaped marc’s perception of valentino as a person. marc says that vale didn’t just love bikes, he loved this world.

and it resonates with what stefania says about vale.

‘I was always impressed by how he always had fun with the whole thing,’ says Stefania. ‘He was really passionate about paddock life, he’d talk about that, or about battling with another rider, for days. He’d win one race, then maybe lose another or crash, but he liked the whole thing, not just the winning.’ (MotoGenius: the Valentino Rossi Biography, Chapter 2)

there are other accounts of catalunya 2008. most focus on what vale says to marc but i like to chew on this passage from Marc the Magnificent:

The weekend after Mugello he contested his first home grand prix, at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit where he scored his first top-ten finish. But that's not why people remember Marc's 2008 Catalan GP. On the eve of the race he sought out journalist Emilio Pérez de Rozas to help him with an errand. Marc's sponsor Scalextric - manufacturer of racing slot-cars - had given him a replica of Rossi's Subaru Impreza rally car to present to the man himself. "Marc didn't know how to find Valentino, so he came to me and said, ‘How do I find Valentino?’ " recalls Pérez de Rozas. "So I took him to Yamaha hospitality and we waited for Valentino. "He was just a little kid but he wasn't overawed. He said to Valentino, 'Here's this car I've got to give you.' And Valentino said, 'Ah, so you're the Marc we've heard about!’ Jaime Olivares photographed them together with the car and when we went to leave the hospitality, Valentino stopped Marc and said, 'Listen, if you need anything, you come and ask me because I have a lot of power around here!’ " (p. 68)

and this is one of my favorite quotes about marc because he's such a prideful creature at heart. we're talking about marc who was drinking a gallon of milk everyday and his sponsor gave him a toy car! it would've really sucked if he showed up and valentino just saw him as some stupid kid with a toy car, but vale knew marc's name and team and bike!

marc's perception of vale probably deserves its own essay but i always think back to that one clip where riders were asked to describe vale in three words and marc chose:

Legend. Unique. Special.