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Marc Marquez knew he did not have the pace to keep up with Pecco Bagnaia and Jorge Martìn in the Red Bull Ring Sprint. Therefore, in the early laps he tried to save his tires, to ride 'soft' to try to have something more towards the end of the short race and maybe hope for more than the 3rd place that seemed already in the safe. That moment came when Jorge Martìn cashed in the long lap penalty, leaving space for Marc to try to close in on Bagnaia.
The gap between the two dropped from 1.8 seconds to 1.3, and Marc was probably already smelling the prey when, however, he was at the same time feeling the asphalt under his suit as he lost the front of his Ducati at Turn 3. But that's how the Spaniard is, when he feels he can win, he always tries, and this zero all things considered does not dramatically change his world championship ranking. What might have changed, however, is Marc's attitude, who unlike at Silverstone, crashed today while playing for an important result.
"What happened? Simply that I was too optimistic - Marquez's explanation - Honestly it was an easy podium to get, I was riding very well. In the first part of the race I simply told myself to stay calm because I knew they would go away. Then I started to make up something, yesterday I thought I was a second from the best, this morning half a second. On the last lap before I crashed I was starting to feel something, I told myself it was time to attack. I pushed hard for a few laps, I was riding very soft but I was too optimistic in turn 3, I was pushing too hard and on the previous lap I had also done my best T1."
How did you feel at that moment?
"The thing is, I've been missing this feeling of being able to win or at least trying for a long time. I think Pecco has something more, but at least I was close enough today. Second place would have been worth a lot, but I wanted more today because I felt I had the strength to catch him in the race. Did I overdo it? Yes, of course. But I'd rather have tried."
You also did several close laps from Pecco and Jorge: did they help?
"Yes, I watched them a lot. Each of them has their own style, Martìn rides one way, Pecco a different way. I also have a still different way of riding and what I have to do is just try to get the most out of what I have, try to take advantage of my strengths. Even in qualifying they made an impression, they're always ahead of everybody and they've been doing that for five or six races."
What betrayed you in the crash?
"It's hard to understand the limit of the track, especially if you're following someone. This morning with a lower temperature everything was different. Today in the race the front locking often was really difficult. Even before the crash my rear had locked up, so I released the brake. But then when I got it back I crashed, that was the reason."
Will you have a different approach tomorrow or does nothing change?
"Tomorrow I would say I will be more conservative. At Silverstone I crashed and I felt much worse than today. At least today I crashed while I was fighting for something important, while at Silverstone it was just for 4th place. Tomorrow if I am smart, I can get on the podium, then in the race I can see if it is possible to do something more."
You lost some important points today, though.
"What really matters is the race also for the championship, not the Sprint. However, when you go more than 1,000 days without winning, you don't think about it. You just think about those days increasing. It doesn't matter anyway, the important thing is that I feel I'm getting closer and closer. Tomorrow it will be crucial for me to secure the third step of the podium, because with the pace I have I think I can win it without any problems. Today the mistake was there because it was the Sprint, tomorrow it will be a little different."
Someone called your return to the track dangerous.
"It was not a dangerous situation. When I crashed the bike was pointing toward the gap to go into the service road, I was not in the line. I put it in gear, then checked no one was coming and turned toward the downhill."
Where does the GP24 make a difference here?
"In the straights. I would say everywhere here, they are super fast in acceleration. In the end it's a combination of a lot of different things, the lowerer they use on the 24 is different, the bike gets longer and also more stable, it wheelies less ... it's this combination that makes the difference."
Do you think you have reached the limit of the GP23 or do you have margin?
"I'm trying to do the maximum. Two or three races ago, I didn't feel particularly comfortable with the bike, so I just thought I would have room to improve. Instead, I rode well here, but even so they are one step ahead of us. But I keep working on my riding style, to find more performance. But the bike is working well."
Automatic Translation by DeepL
