ended up happy Marc Márquez with his fifth place in the Qatar GP, for the 11 points that they represent for the championship and because his physique was not a problem. He now only has to adapt the new Honda to his riding.
-How has your career been?
-For my taste it was too fast, a very fast race where there was no rest. I thought it would be slower, managing tires and fuel, but it hasn’t. I was looking for a slower race, because that in Qatar would have benefited me more. It has not been like that and we have taken one hundred percent.
-How about physically?
-Physically I am happy, because nothing has hurt me and this is very important. The best thing I got out of the weekend is the 11 points from the championship and that I’ve been doing well.
-Have they made a mistake choosing the soft tyres?
-We have decided the best in the situation we were in and for what we were looking for. We weren’t looking to take risks and risk everything on one card, if I hadn’t put in the midfielder, who is the one with whom I found myself quite well yesterday, but this morning I had a small fall in the warm up. We didn’t have much speed either. My only hope was that the race would go at a high 54 pace. There he held up well, but when they went to 54 medium and low, in the case of Bastianini, we had no more. I didn’t feel like I was at that point of going looking for more. Perhaps four or five years ago he would have looked for more. Today, when I saw that it wasn’t, I got into my rhythm, I held on to Mir the last few laps as best I could and we got 11 points that are better than zero.
-Doesn’t he have more speed in this circuit or what?
-No, no, the Honda had more speed, because there is one in front of me and it has set the pace of the race, especially at the beginning. I was the one who had no more speed. I didn’t feel that point. I felt it in qualifying for one lap, but we have been saving a tough and difficult weekend. In the race, at 22 laps, you have to have everything squared very well. Square it well we have been fifth.
-Is it good to see Pol in front?
-In all the tests and in the first race my partner has gone faster than me. It is not new that it has been here, but the World Championship does not end in the first race. It is good that there are Honda bikes ahead and that the competition is rising, to have someone to compare with. Of course, when you are looking for the last two tenths, you have to have a bike to your liking and I still don’t have it exactly as I would like. My natural riding style hasn’t gotten out of it yet. It is seen on TV. You have to be patient in the first races so as not to lose the World Championship and, when you can’t win, score points.
-This fifth place is made better by the fact that other favorite theorists have finished worse?
-Favorite theorists. It is not known who they are. For me, Bastianini is almost more dangerous than Pol, because he already had great races last year. He today he was flying. When I went after him, he was going very fast. He has given me the feeling of when he passed me in Misano last year. He posted a 54.3 on lap 17, almost a second faster than I was at the time. He has had a great race, but the championship is neither won nor lost in the first race and we have started with an acceptable result, with a solid race for Qatar.
-Having gained traction in the rear axle has made the front axle worse?
-This is logical. When you gain traction, you lose something in the front and I have always ridden a lot with the front end, searching for life with the rear to find traction. Now it’s the other way around and I have to know how to adapt. When you don’t have that confidence in the front end and on top of that you suffer a small fall in the warm up, to say yesterday in English that I hadn’t fallen yet this weekend, as it is a warning. If I hadn’t fallen in the morning, I would have fallen in the race. I still don’t understand exactly where the limit is and I can’t get 100 percent out of it. Still, I had my best race in Qatar even finishing fifth. I hadn’t had such a solid race here in almost my entire racing career.
-Why has he gone a little long three times at the end of the straight?
-Because I was going with the hook and with the slipstream of those in front, it is more difficult to stop the motorcycle. I didn’t want to lose, so I didn’t want to stop before and I went a little long. When you make these mistakes is that you go with the hook in the neck.
“Have you completely forgotten about the vision problem?”
-Forgotten. And his shoulder practically forgotten. We are working.
#Márquez #didnt #hurt