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Marc Marquez's Saturday in Barcelona got off to a complicated start, missing out on Q2 and a start from the 14th grid slot would not make life easy for the Spaniard over the rest of the weekend, and "I don't like to complicate my life," he would later admit to reporters. In the race, however, the eight-time world champion was able to grit his teeth and withstand a series of hits, such as the one to the aerodynamics of his bike that left him with a broken wing dueling with his rivals.
The pace, however, was good, and his rivals' crashes opened the opportunity for a podium finish, a second place at the expense of a talented as well as perhaps impatient Acosta, who would pay for the stress imposed on his tyres in the early laps. An uphill race then, as at Le Mans, but better because now the Spanish champion feels he really has the GP23 in hand: "I feel I still have potential, it will be interesting for Gigi to analyze the data," he will later say, and we can take his word for it, because Mugello is approaching and with it an important decision for Ducati.
It's the second weekend in a row that you started behind and finished on the podium.
"The truth is that I don't like to complicate my life ," said Marquez, "in the first few laps the feeling was not the best, and when I lost the wing the bike became nervous. When I found myself fourth and Pecco crashed I realized I was on the podium, then I saw that I had more than Acosta and I tried to attack him one last time. It was better than in Le Mans, we saved it again today, I'm happy with the result obviously but if I want to be competitive every weekend we have to improve in qualifying. In Jerez I was fast but I didn't have the confidence and knowledge of the bike that I had today. The goal today was to finish 6th or 7th, and taking away the crashes today I would have finished 5th or 6th, that will be the optimistic goal for tomorrow as well."
You started 14th, finished 2nd without a wing, are you the best Ducati rider?
"Today yes, in the sprint, but Martin and Bagnaia are faster and more consistent. I think today it will be interesting for Gigi and his team to analyze the data because without a wing I was riding well without too many problems, even if it changes the balance of the bike. However, it is also true that adapting is one of my strengths, I feel I still have room for improvement, and on the pace we are very close to Pecco and Martin. We also worked well on the setup of the bike, it's one of the advantages of having several competitive riders on the Ducati, sometimes I'm the one following the others' direction, sometimes not and I find my own."
What were you missing in qualifying that you found in the race?
"After two or three laps with the tyres the feeling improved but we have to understand why. In Le Mans I had the same feeling, with the new tyres I have difficulty. In the first races I was able to compensate for this problem but now it's back, so it's something we'll have to work on. Starting from the front rows is a whole different race, at the moment we are managing to salvage it but the race is much more challenging."
Is this the same problem that didn't allow you to get into the top 10 yesterday?
"Yes, for some reason the difference between the new tyre and the used tyre for me seems to be less. Today in Q1 it was the same, it's true I followed Alex, he came to me yesterday and told me I could follow him because he has nothing to lose, and that if I passed into Q2 it would be more important for the team, but even so we couldn't pass."
What were the feelings in the first few laps?
"I was in danger of losing the front often, in the first laps I had difficulty even following Bastianini. Then the potential came out and I was able to start with overtaking. The important thing for tomorrow's race is that if this problem persists, there will be another 20 laps to go anyway, but basically I don't like to get these feelings on the bike, especially in qualifying. We have to try to improve since Friday, the third row is still acceptable but for the future we have to improve."
You were also behind Acosta, who drew different trajectories. Is it his riding style or does it have something to do with the KTM?
"He rides very differently, Aleix is one extreme, Pedro is the other, I would say I'm in the middle. His corner entry speed was really high, it was impressive. But I don't know how many risks he takes to get that kind of performance, he moves a lot with his body but he was fast with that style of riding on this kind of circuit. I tried to imitate him for a few laps but I saw that I was taking too many risks and continued with my riding style."
Today we saw an all-Spanish podium, what did you say to Aleix?
"I told him it was a good podium because he won it in the past and the future. I am a realist, in sports everyone has their moment. I will try to prolong my moment as much as I can, but the future of MotoGP is a 20-year-old boy, not a boy ... well a man of 31. So he got a good win, and he did it on his home circuit."
Photo: ©Pier luca Brunetti)
