“This doesn’t mean that I consider Pecco already excluded from the title fight, but I have more of a margin against him, and although I am closer than I expected, this is a track where I will have to defend and not attack.”
Despite Mugello not being one of his most favorable tracks, Marc Marquez made a positive start to the Italian GP weekend. Fourth in the morning’s free practice, the factory Ducati rider took another step forward in the pre-qualifying, finishing in third position, squeezed in the vice between his teammate Francesco Bagnaia and his brother Alex.
“At the beginning I expected to be a little bit more than a bit far from Alex and Pecco, but in FP1 I was closer than I expected, and in pre-qualifying I took a step forward. They did too, especially Alex, but I still managed to be closer to them again than I expected,” remarked Marc, drawing the balance of his day: “I always struggle more here than at other circuits when I ride alone, but today I was convinced, rode well, and was close to them. It went better than I expected, and I hit my goal, which was precisely to stay close to them.”
This Friday practice was also an opportunity for Marc to try out the new aerodynamics evaluated at Aragon.
“The fact that we are using it means that we have homologated it, but we still need to do some more laps with this new aerodynamics, which needs to be studied a little at a time. Using it in at least one run was one of the goals today. In Aragon we saw that it changes the balance of the bike a little bit, so we probably should have tried it a little earlier, but today’s priority was to find the right balance. We will try it again in the next races, because we believe we can get better performance in the future,” he commented. “I think there is still some work to be done, so tomorrow we will probably go back to the old aerodynamics. Especially because on a race weekend there is little time, and we have a lot to do.”
Has the eight-time world champion already figured out whether Mugello will be a track on which to attack or defend?
“You need more time to understand it, but this is a track where you mustn’t lose too many points. Especially in relation to Alex. Compared to Pecco at the moment, I don’t care, because I have more margin. I will try to stay close to Alex, who is my direct pursuer in the championship, but this does not mean that I have already excluded Bagnaia from the title fight. But this is a track where I will have to defend and not attack,” he admitted. “The goal for tomorrow is to take a step forward in terms of pace to be even closer to Alex, but it’s a matter of knowing how to suffer when it’s time to suffer and knowing how to attack when it’s time to attack, as happened in Aragon.”
Speaking specifically about Alex, Marc explained how he relates to his brother approaching a race weekend.
“As usual. Today, for example, we were together several times in the motorhome. We had a nap together before pre-qualifying and talked about the feeling with the front end, which is always critical with the soft tire. We try to talk about the feeling on the bike, and it seems we made a step forward this afternoon, but in the end he has his strategy with his crew chief, and I have mine with mine. We have different styles and different feelings on the bike, but the lap times are very close,” he explained.
The real surprise of the day, however, was Maverick Vinales, who took the KTM into first place in the last practice session.
“At the end all the manufacturers are working, and Viñales was already first in the tests in Aragon. We are getting closer and closer, but the important thing is that Ducati is always there in front,” he commented. “It is impossible to be the best bike and the best rider at all circuits. You have to look for the bike with the best balance and the rider with the best balance in all the tracks, which are 22.”
Friday’s protagonists also included Fabio Quartararo, who qualified for Q2 despite a shoulder subluxation. How do you keep pushing despite the pain?
“I don’t know, I wasn’t aware of the condition of his shoulder,” Marc replied. “However, I can say that in my case, the way my shoulder was, if I was out for less than 3 or 4 minutes, I was able to ride very well without having pain. It was more a matter of instability, which then leads you to dislocate your shoulder once, twice, three, or four times. From the third time on, you know that if you keep forcing it, you will have to have surgery, because then it tends to happen faster and faster. Anyway, I hope that in Quartararo’s case it was a small dislocation and he will be able to be on the track.”
The Spanish rider then commented on the condition of the Mugello track: “The asphalt is old, 15 years old, and when you go off the line you can feel the bumps. It is in acceptable condition to race there, and we are still going fast, but the track is old, and in some of the run-off areas, like in Turn 8, it would need a little more asphalt because otherwise when you crash, you get into the gravel with a lot of speed, and it can be dangerous. It is a circuit where progress can be made for the future.”
A track with a lot of right turns, but the rider from Cervera doesn’t want to focus too much on that aspect: “Alex and Pecco, for example, are faster than me in that area, but I just think about not overdoing it. I don’t think about going fast there but about taking advantage of my strengths, like in the last sector.”
Marc then concluded by taking a dip into the past to explain how the Tomizawa and Simoncelli tragedies of 2010 and 2011 affected him.
“Honestly, at that age, what happened didn’t affect me much. Obviously, they were very delicate moments, but what I want to say is that they didn’t change my way of thinking or riding, because at the end of the day, this is my job,” he said. “Obviously, you never want what happened to happen again, but at 32 years old, the mentality is different from what I had at that time, when I was 17/18 years old. As much as those days can affect you a lot, at that age you are not aware of what life is.”
