It's not often that another Honda rider🍨 gets the better of six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez﷽.

But after leading the field into turn one,ꦓ Ma𓆏rquez was promptly passed by team-mate Pol Espargaro. Marquez tried to re-pass the #44 under braking 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, b๊efore a fading soft f💜ront tyre saw him fall victim to Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder, Marquez was shuffled back to fifth.

"All weekend Pol was riding a bit betterꦅ than me," said Marquez. "The way that 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] bike, he rides really good. In Malaysia, in Mandalika, here. And it's good to have a good reference inside the box. We are in the firsওt 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 physical condition 🌜wasn't a factor.

"The race distance was one of my question marks. I didn't have any problems about physic꧟al 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 tha𒈔n 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 incredible, and I didn't have the speed."

Having exploit🌠ed 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 front tyre. But it was something we already knew before the race," Marquez sai꧟d.

"For 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 was 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, four 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 cancell𝐆ed due to Covid restrictions, while the Spaniard missed the 2021 r🐭aces due to complications with his right arm injury.