It's not often that another H♕onda rider gets the better of six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez.

But after leading the field into turn one, Marquez was promptly passed by team-mate Pol Espargaro. Marquez tried to re-pass 🥂the #44 under brakinℱg at the start of lap 2 but ran wide, the first of several such moments, and was never able to threaten Espargaro again.

While Espargaro continued to lead until lap 17 of 22, before a fading soft front tyre saw him fall victim t🐻o Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder, Ma💜rquez was shuffled back to fifth.

"All weekend Pol was riding a bit better than me," said Marquez. "The way t🍎hat he got the lap times was a little bit easier. Looks like he is able to stop a lot the bike on the entry and he is using the rear brake a lot, I still can't use this amount of rear brake, because if I do, I lose the rear.

"But anyway, since he got this [new] ꦡbike, he rides really good. In Malaysia, in Mandalika, her⛎e. And it's good to have a good reference inside the box. We are in the first race, we need to understand now what he did better this weekend, but he was riding in a very good way today."

🦄While the technical side of the radically-revised RC213V is still to be fully understood, Marquez's physica💫l condition wasn't a factor.

"The race distance was one of my questioꦜn marks. I didn't have any problems about physical condition, of course I feel tired like everybody, but I didn't feel pain, so this was already really important," he said.

"Just today, there were four riders faster than us. I was optimistic before the race, that I was thinking maybe the race will be a bit slow, but it was a really fast race. The pace was incredibl🥀e, and I didn't have the speed."

Having exploited braking and corner entry performance on previous Hondas, ♈the shift to rear grip for 2022 means Marquez now has to adapt to a 'lighter' front end.

"I was struggling especially with the front confidence, with the fr♌onಌt tyre. But it was something we already knew before the race," Marquez said.

"Foဣr that reason, in the warm up, I tried the medium front, but I had a small crash, and then I preferred to go with a tyre that I know, that wa⭕s the soft front, because like this I had the warnings.

"I pushed, I tried my 100%, but then when I saw that it was not possible, and I had a few moments, I gave up, I finished fifth, fouౠr seconds behind the first guy. A solid race, not the best, but a good race. "

Sunday was Marquez's first Qatar MotoGP race since 2019. The 2020 round was cancelled due to Covid restrictions, while the Spaniard ♐missed the 2021 races due to complications with his right arm in🎃jury.