managed to stay in the fight with the best and missed the podium in both the Sprint and the long race. Having crashed on Saturday, he tried to seek redemption on Sunday, but he incurred a penalty for tire pressure below the minimum allowed.
After the checkered flag, the eight-time world champion was called to the Race Direction to check the irregularity of his tyres. The stewards’ panel confirmed the infringement of the rules, imposing a 16-second penalty on the total race time. Thus, if he initially crossed the finish line in fourth place, 7.8 seconds behind the winner Pecco Bagnaia, he now slips to tenth place, 23.8 seconds from first position.
The situation had perhaps already been perceived during the grand prix, because the Gresini driver, initially third, had in fact allowed himself to be overtaken by Fabio Di Giannantonio while still remaining in his wake. If at first the strategy wasn’t clear, it later became clear that he was trying to raise the tire pressure by staying behind another rider, in this case the VR46 rider.
The tire pressure was not excessively low, but just enough to incur a penalty: “0.01 for one lap. It’s a shame, but the rules are the rules. It was everyone’s mistake. Sometimes I make mistakes, other times others make mistakes, but we are a team. Today I tried to control well, but it’s true that most of the Ducatis were very, very at the limit. Today was very tough, because clouds and sun alternated, the track temperature changed by five degrees up and down.”
Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“I let Diggia pass to check the pressure, which was very low,” explained the driver from Cervera. “I had everything under control until I touched myself with Enea Bastianini. This took me out and, coming back, it took me two laps to recover to stay calm. But in those two laps the pressure dropped. I can control everything except a contact with another rider,” underlined Marc, whose strategy was “ruined” by the comeback of the official Ducati rider.
However, what stands out is the amount of time spent on such a trivial decision. Marc spent some time in Race Direction and was asked the reason for the slow decision: “We were discussing with the stewards, which is why he delayed the penalty, about the pressure. The only fact that takes time for the stewards is that when they saw the data they noticed that the temperature of my tires dropped after the contact with Enea. As you saw in the race, I started well but suddenly I saw that there was something strange on the front and the tire pressure was very low. I let Diggia pass to control the front pressure and then I stayed behind him for the whole race.”
We therefore focused on the maneuver of Bastianini, who was the author of an aggressive overtaking: “I was controlling well, I was on the inside, but what I didn’t expect was the contact with Enea who pushed me out. When I went out on that lap I was a second slower and I didn’t push well in Turn 3 and Turn 5, because I didn’t know what the tire would feel like after coming off the run-off area. It took me two laps to get back in and those two laps made me lose the minimum.”
According to Marc Marquez, the Ducati rider’s overtaking of him was decidedly aggressive. Perhaps too much so as to deserve a penalty: “Honestly, I expected a penalty for Enea. If you overtake a rider with a contact and this rider goes off the track, you expect a penalty. Not a big penalty, but that he gives up a position. But he didn’t receive a penalty and I did for the temperature of the tires. But the rules are in line with the regulation, I agree”, concluded the Catalan from the Gresini team.
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