MotoGP | Marquez: “Today I was lost, top 10 was the only positive thing”

In 2024, Marc Marquez was expected to make a great comeback: after the difficulties caused by his injury first and by Honda’s technical gap, his arrival in Ducati seemed like a rebirth. In some ways, it was like that, however, victory is still missing and, despite some satisfactions that he has had, there have been moments of difficulty. One of these we are experiencing at Silverstone, where he did not feel comfortable on the bike, putting in what he considers one of the worst Fridays of the season.

The timesheets can be misleading, as the Gresini rider qualified directly to Q2 thanks to his tenth final position. However, what emerges from the statements of the eight-time world champion at the end of Friday at the British Grand Prix is ​​dissatisfaction: “The top 10 was the only positive thing of the day, which was not good”.

“I’m not happy, maybe it was one of the worst Fridays. There were Fridays where I was even out of Q2, but I had good feelings on the bike. Instead, already from the first lap of FP1 I was going the opposite of everything. We had to react during the day, we did it and we saved the top 10 by a hair. But for tomorrow we have to work a lot if we want to stay between fifth and tenth place. We can’t aim for more than that because at the moment we are very far away”, Marquez admits.

In addition to the technical difficulties, a crash in the morning session also messed up the plans in the Gresini garage. The Cervera rider fell at Stowe, fortunately without consequences, and explains the reason: “The bike can go fast, on the first run of FP1 I felt uncomfortable, on the second we improved a bit. On the third I don’t know if I was riding at my limit or the bike’s. I tried to push a bit more, but I was struggling. This crash made us change our plans a bit for the afternoon too. We improved by going in a direction that made me feel a bit better, but for tomorrow we have to take another step”.

“Fridays have always been a bit difficult for me this year, especially because we have to work a lot on the electronics, because it is true that we have some differences compared to last year, but each rider has his own style with the rear brake, with everything… We have to work a lot on the details. When I feel better with the electronics, then I will start to be faster on the flying lap. But yes, this can happen. And it will not be the last circuit where I will struggle. Even struggling we are at a very similar level to the 2023 bikes, so this is the only positive thing, but of course my goal is to try to fight with the best bikes”, explains Marc, going into detail about the difficulties he encounters during Fridays.

For this reason, today he also resumed the old habit of looking for a tow: “Today was the first day I followed someone, because I felt lost, and then on other circuits I felt good and I managed to do the lap alone, I feel better going alone. But today I got lost. If I have the chance to do it, I do it. I started behind Aleix Espargaró from the pit lane, but Aleix wasn’t pushing, then Martin arrived and I followed him. But my initial plan was to follow Aleix”.