World championship favorite Marc Marquez is struggling to understand the crash that lost him the points lead at the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday, ceding the top position to his brother Alex.
Marquez, who rides for the factory Ducati team, fell from third place on lap three, marking the second time this season that he has crashed and relinquished his championship lead. The first incident had occurred just two weekends prior during the Americas Grand Prix.
“I understand why I crashed in Austin,” Marquez remarked after the race in Jerez. “Today, I don’t understand.” He expressed his confusion, explaining that he was not aggressively pushing during the race but rather was maintaining a steady pace, similar to his approach in previous races where he positioned himself behind the early leaders. “I know that the second part of the race is my strong point,” he added, highlighting his strategy.
When pressed for a possible explanation, Marquez suggested that being in close proximity to other riders, like leader Fabio Quartararo and teammate Francesco Bagnaia, might have contributed to his crash. “I didn’t check the data [yet], but maybe it was one degree more [lean] angle. I don’t know… but it’s true that I was behind two riders and maybe it was the first time in the weekend that I was behind riders,” he explained, illustrating his perplexity.
He proceeded to speculate about tire performance, indicating that changes in bike behavior due to different rubber compounds throughout the weekend could have played a role in his mistake. “And then maybe the tyre… [maybe] the bike changed a bit and I didn’t think about it and then for that reason I made the mistake,” Marquez reflected.
After remounting his damaged bike, Marquez impressively fought back, completing the race in 12th place and securing four world championship points, despite the bike looking considerably worse for wear. He managed to set the sixth-fastest lap late in the race, showcasing his resilience.
Currently sitting just one point behind Alex after five of the 22 rounds, the eight-time world champion remains calm but vigilant. “The important thing is that the speed is there, but we need to avoid the mistakes,” he stated. Marquez underscored the need for vigilance, clarifying that, “I’m happy. If you don’t have the pace and you crash, then you say, ‘OK, now I have two things to fix – the crash plus the pace’. [But] the pace is there. We just need to avoid the mistakes.”
