Alex Marquez gave the Gresini Racing Ducati team an almost perfect weekend at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Almost. After having authoritatively won the Sprint on Saturday, the Catalan provided another great performance today, in the long race, in which he was only beaten by the great return of the best Enea Bastianini.
Marquez, having started well, decided to follow Bastianini in the first laps to manage his tires and wait for the right moment to attack the Italian, but the official Ducati rider showed over time that he had more. But not only that, because Alex realized too late how damaging it was to remain behind Bastianini’s Red for so long.
His front tire overheated, causing him to lose performance. His Ducati, however, when it found itself about half a second behind Bastianini, was moving too much as it felt the turbulence generated by the twin bike that was in the lead. In short, it was a mistake to have waited to attack the Rimini rider, which cost Alex the chance to win this weekend.
“I tried from the start to follow Enea. I knew that today he was the favorite with me and in the end the fight for the victory was that. I honestly expected Bagnaia to be further away from us and Martin closer, but instead the situation turned out to be opposite to this scenario. But in the end, when you play for the World Championship, things can change in this way. The races are always a bit like this.”
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing
“I wanted to push from the start, but perhaps I should have attacked Enea in the first 5 laps. In the end I realized that I had waited too long. The tire heated up, the temperature rose and I struggled. But it was a fantastic weekend for us. We must not forget where we come from, we are taking the right steps to find real form. We have 2 races left, but today we deserve to celebrate because the team has produced an impressive masterpiece.”
“The difference between today and yesterday is that today I remained behind Enea and I didn’t have the chance to get ahead. We often remained within half a second in the first part of the race. I was a tenth closer, but he responded every time It was like fighting against a wall. When I got closer to under half a second the bike broke down, the front tire got too hot and it became difficult. That was the main problem.”
Marquez admitted that, even if he had managed to take the lead of the race after the start, things could still have gone unexpectedly. Bastianini has improved braking a lot compared to yesterday’s Sprint and that detail would probably have had an impact on today’s final result.
“I don’t know if I had been in front of Bastianini how today would have ended. It’s certain that if you’re behind a motorbike you struggle much more, as Bagnaia did yesterday in the Sprint behind me. But honestly, it’s difficult to say with certainty what it would have been like. gone. Surely, if I had been in front, I would have had fewer difficulties than those I encountered. But the weekend we had was excellent and we must continue like this.”
“When you’re in the lead you can be more aggressive in the short race, while in the long race if you make a mistake you can pay for it at a distance. So today I tried to manage more, without making mistakes and so it was. Enea also improved a lot today in braking compared to yesterday. He was also very good, I must say”, concluded the Gresini team rider.
#MotoGP #Regrets #Alex #Marquez #attacked #Enea #immediately