It has been a while since Marc Marquez has delighted everyone with one of his saves. He got his chance to put on a show in pre-qualifying when, in Turn 10, he won over the laws of physics. The execution of the maneuver was flawless, worthy of applause. "It was a long time since I made such a great save. So many people said that the Honda had a special system for not falling off, now the Ducati has it too and it works!" the Spaniard joked.
And he continued to do so when asked if he will reveal his secret to Bagnaia next year.
"No. You don't give advice to your rivals," he laughed, "On this track I like to play with the front. When there is a lot of grip you can't, you have to use stability, but when there is little then you can do something. For example, at Misano there were so many crashes because when you lost the front you couldn't get it back. Here you have more margin, but the circuit will improve and you can't make those saves anymore."
Personal satisfaction aside, certain maneuvers don't please the Team Gresini rider too much.
"Those saves are spectacular, but also a sign that I'm not comfortable," he underlined, "This is a track where I've struggled in the past, I thought this year was different, but I'm having more problems than on other circuits."
Marquez ended the day with the 7th fastest time, and to make matters worse, all the Ducati GP24s are in the top 4.
"But today I also had a GP23 in front of me, Bezzecchi's - Marc emphasized - My weak point is in the second sector of the track, there I'm losing so much, I'm struggling more than normal. Above all, I can't take advantage of the new tyre, compared to a used tyre I lower my times by a couple of tenths, while the other riders by 4 or 5. I have to try to improve to be closer to them, but they are quite far from me, especially Bastianini and Martin."
Mandalika has never been a good track for him.
"Yesterday I hoped to go well right from the start, but I had a question mark - he revealed - In fact I struggled a lot in the first session, then in the second we improved both me and the bike, but for tomorrow I will still have to make some steps forward. I still struggle more than in the past in fast right turns, because with the Honda I could slide in the rear and with the Ducati I couldn't, it's my weak point."
Then there is the one lap problem.
"One of my problems this year is that the rear tyre pushes on the front, when that happens I find myself cornering late and, as a result, getting the bike up late," he continued, "From the Red Bull Ring onward I had felt better, but today I struggled, especially with the new tyres."
From a physical point of view, at least, there are no problems.
"The Ducati is more stable than the Honda and less physically demanding," Marc said, "Apart from that, this track is not too hard because there are no demanding braking points, it's the heat and humidity that make you struggle, but Malaysia is much worse."