Marc Márquez finished Saturday’s race in 15th position. The Spanish rider has been struggling since Friday. After two crashes in the first two practice sessions of the first day of the Australian GP, Marc was never able to go as fast as he wanted on his Honda RC213V and finished Saturday with just one point.
The Repsol Honda Team rider spoke about the race and his tire choices.
– ‘ Last year it was a gamble with the tires and this year too. That gamble got me a podium last year, but today wasn’t our day, especially because at the start when I saw Martín with the soft tire on the rear pushing so hard the race became very fast and when you’re riding at that pace it’s impossible to manage the tires. I was lapping in the low 1.29”s and I thought to myself whether or not to push harder, but if I pushed harder I’d be dead, I just didn’t know when. On lap 10 I still managed to save the race and I didn’t crash, it was my choice of tires and it’s totally my fault, but we were calculating and I should have finished 10th or 9th with the medium, not much better than that”.
Asked about Jorge Martín’s choice of the soft tire today and his compatriot’s chances of winning the MotoGP world championship, Marc replied: ‘ For me Jorge had that extra speed today. Of course it was a mistake for him to choose the soft, but on the track he was the fastest and he’ll only learn more from this. With the medium he was also the fastest, so when he chose the soft tire it was a surprise. Riders like me, Pol, we have to gamble, last year it worked this year it didn’t, but Jorge was the fastest today and he’s the fastest without a doubt. He’s still my choice to win the championship, there are still four races to go, plus the Sprint races, so he still has a chance. Jorge is driving very well’.