Last week, Marc Marquez almost won his first podium or maybe even his first victory in the 2024 GP season since moving to Gresini. However, he was unable to overcome brake problems on his Ducati GP23 and fell while leading the American MotoGP Grand Prix. If three weeks earlier at Portimao Maverick was betrayed by the clutch, then at CoTA the sheriff was betrayed by the Brembo front brake calipers.
In detail, Marc Márquez admitted that he fell because he had to pump the brake lever. Marc had to pump the brakes due to the bumpy conditions on the CoTA track which pushed the brake pads/pads back in or what we usually know as the Pad-Knockback symptom. In the case of a Pad-Knockback incident, the Crew Chief can access the motorbike’s telemetry data and get results from the Stroke-Sensor on the caliper which does not show the presence of pressure on the brake lever. . it’s scary too!
Pad knock back occurs for several reasons, one of the main reasons is the lag that occurs because the brake pads lose contact with the rotor. When knock-back occurs, the master cylinder has to push the caliper piston further than usual, which results not only in a brake pedal that feels spongy (Nge-bagel), but also brake lever pressure that is farther than usual.
A second press is often necessary to start slowing the motor. Pad Knock-back can be caused by loose or worn components, such as hub bearings, wavy, worn out rotors, or anything that can cause the rotor to become thinner so that the caliper needs to push the pad further.
So, during heavy use like what happened to Marc Marquez on the CoTA track, he will often press the front brake lever slightly first to induce the brakes to be more responsive before doing heavy braking. . . You can imagine that means for 11 laps Marc has more things to think about in his head to manage braking like this.
“The whole race I was thinking about the front brake, because my sensation changed every time I braked. These problems are normal in new projects. We have a problem, and now we have to find the answer. From the data we know there is a problem. I pressed the brake, nothing happened, I pressed it again and they didn’t respond either,”
Frankie Carchedi, Marc’s Crew-Chief, did not hide his disappointment at what happened, praising his performance while promising that the problem would be fixed
“ The team is still in the learning phase with this new project. We had big problems, especially brake problems that were holding us back. I am ‘heartbroken’ for (what happened to) Marc. Racing at the front with problems throughout the race was incredible. We found the speed we needed from Saturday, but an unfortunate problem arose in the race, which we will study and solve”
