The pressure mocks Marquez: out by 0.01. ‘Blame’ by Bastianini

Bad weekend

He leaves the Dutch Grand Prix with a bitter taste in his mouth Marc Marquez, which at Assen may have seen the residual hopes of entering the fight for the world title which currently sees Jorge Martin and Pecco Bagnaia as the absolute protagonists disappear once and for all. After the fall in the Sprint race, the Spaniard from the Gresini team tried to limit the damage, finishing the GP in fourth place. But then it arrived on his head‘axe of the penalty for irregular pressures’ tires, which sent him plummeting back to tenth place.

A mockery for the #93 who throughout the race tried to pay attention to precisely this detail, even voluntarily letting himself slip away in some cases from Di Giannantonio and Vinales to avoid being the first in his group and therefore putting excessive strain on the tyres. It wasn’t enough. The rule, moreover, is extremely rigid and uninterpretable: you have to keep the tire within a certain pressure measurement for a certain number of laps. In Assen the indication was 15 laps out of 27 within the limit; Marquez made 14.

Marquez’s explanation

“Today there are many pilots who have returned at the last minute or for a lap – the Ducati rider commented to the Spanish media – While I was out for a lap and for the 0.01“. The changing weather conditions – from clouds to sun and vice versa, with the track temperature fluctuating a lot – didn’t help. Marquez was then given the ‘coup de grace’ duel with Enea Bastianiniwhich forced him to change – albeit partially – his race management. That was enough to get the penalty.

“When Bastianini touched me, I went wide in turn 1 and on these bikes if you don’t push [le pressioni cambiano]. I didn’t push well in turn 3 – because you enter and you don’t know if the tire is dirty – and I didn’t push well in turn 5, because it’s the first left and you don’t know if the tire is dirty and holds. In fact Di Giannantonio passed me there. Then you start pushing again, but they had already moved away from me a bit and It took me two laps to get the temperature back up. In fact, on the last lap I was back inside, at the right temperature. But on the penultimate lap, where I thought I was inside, I was out by 0.01“, concluded Marquez.