This press conference held after the Thai Grand Prix brought together Marc Márquez (see here), Andrea Dovizioso and Maverick Vinales.
As usual, we report here the raw words of Marc Márquez, without the slightest journalistic interpretation.
Marc, a fantastic race and, in the last corner, revenge for what has already happened several times with Andrea…
Marc Márquez : “yes (laughs), in the end, we took our revenge after the 3 times. In the 4th, we changed our style a little, but to be honest, I had another strategy which was to try to attack when there were more or less 8 or 10 laps left. But I saw that Dovi's rhythm was good. I was maybe able to go slightly faster but I wasn't able to overtake it because my front tire was like overheated and then I couldn't brake the bike properly at the braking point. That's why I tried to attack before the last lap, to try to cool down the front tire a little, but Dovi was very intelligent and overtook me very quickly each time. So I said "OK" and we'll see during the last lap. I tried to give everything, I forgot about the championship and all those things, and I just gave everything I had, and yes, my goal was to arrive at the last corner in the lead. Because when there were only 3 laps left, I was behind and I tried to overtake him there, but I couldn't brake well and he passed me again. So we changed identity cards: I did “Dovi style” and he did “Marc style”, and yes, in the end it ended well for us.”
Yamaha performed well today. Did you expect this pace from Valentino and Maverick?
“Yes, the race went exactly as I expected. I tried to attack for the first 4 or 5 laps, but with the tank full and all these things, I saw that the feeling was not perfect. So I preferred to be behind them but then I started to overheat the front tire, and I never recovered it. I was losing the front all the time. But yes, all the Yamahas were very strong on this circuit, but the strongest was Dovizioso. He deserved this victory and in the end the last corner and the last 5 laps were very, very good for the Thai fans.”
Now you will go to Motegi with a very good chance of winning the championship there. But winning here in Thailand is almost the same because you have huge support there…
" Yes. You know, during the weekend, I felt that the Japanese staff had a particular motivation to have a first match point in front of our big boss. So I attacked a lot and they did the same during the weekend. Even if we want to have a chance to win the championship in Motegi, we need to improve 2 or 3 points because Ducati will be very strong there. I did a lot of laps behind Dovi and I saw a few points where he was very, very strong. So if we want to beat him in Motegi, we have to improve these points to be faster, because otherwise it won't be possible.”
This year you benefited from the battle between Dovizioso and Lorenzo. Do you think it will be more difficult next year with Lorenzo in your box, against Dovi?
“Mmmm…no! No because Dovi had a very good championship. He does a very good job with all the Ducati guys because they continue to improve every time. And as he said during the first part of the season, he already felt and was faster than last year from the first races, but he made some mistakes there. But apart from that, he drives very well and is fast on all tracks. Now Ducati, together with Dovi, is very fast in all corners. Of course, they have some weak points but they also have some very positive points. Yes, our goal is to improve our bike to be faster and have a chance to create a gap during the races. This is our main objective, but we know that Ducati, Yamaha and all the manufacturers will progress. This is our goal and that is why we are already working for the next season in different areas, to understand if we can improve some weak points.”
You say you need to upgrade your bike for Motegi. Can you explain to us?
“It’s easy to see. I was losing 2/10 in T1 all weekend. And T1 is the acceleration from the last corner and the acceleration from the first corner. We lost a lot in these two accelerations, against Ducati but also against Yamaha. We were losing in a strange way and we need to improve on that because for some reason our electronics weren't working the best here. But we changed the settings for the race and we worked with settings that we didn't know exactly. And yes, we were able to improve and it was working better, but we have to continue like this because it's like I say: I don't yet feel the acceleration that I want.
Do you think your fights are reaching the level of classics at the moment with Rainey and Schwantz. And in that case, who is Rainey and who is Schwantz?
“Of course, already last year, then this year, we have some very good fights, and it's good because these fights go until the last corner. Even if I always give everything until the last meter, Dovi gives everything until the last meter. It's good, there's always respect, but we have different riding styles and different bikes, he has some very strong points and I have other very strong points, so that creates that we are able to play in a good way the way we overtake each other. It is difficult to explain. Today we swapped styles: I was Dovi and he was Marc. He passed very quickly and slipped outside but he was really very close to reaching his goal which was a sort of blockpass. It was very close but I was able to brake in the last meters, and yes, it was exactly the same maneuver as in Austria last year.
I don't really know but maybe Schwantz because Dovi brakes more under control and I brake more at the limit. But my goal is to change my style, to try to have the same as Dovi: flow, take a little angle and accelerate! But at the moment, that’s not possible (laughs).”
What was your best moment here in Thailand compared to the Thais?
“During the whole weekend, I felt a very nice atmosphere. All the fans support the drivers the same and that's really good. There's a sort of atmosphere, and even after the testing sessions, 6,7 or 8 o'clock in the evening, it's like a motorcycle party. That's really good and it's perhaps the only circuit where there is this approach to the race weekend in this way. The fans come here to enjoy motorcycling, and it's really good because they support the riders the same way, and they enjoy the great show we give them.”
One of your technicians said they worked very late last night because you were having a lot of electronic problems. Is it true ?
“Yes, it happened this weekend. Yesterday I stayed in the box until 21 p.m. before going to dinner, because it is also important to relax. But they worked until more or less 22:30 p.m. because they had a lot of work since we had some problems that we couldn't figure out. We started the race with different electronic elements because, yes, we were struggling on certain points. Normally, during the weekend, we never have a problem, but here, whatever the reason, yes. It looks easy and it seems like everyone in the box is happy, it looks like we're having fun, but we're really working hard and that makes the difference in the end. We were the only guys in the boxes working to try to improve, and we did. Already this morning in the Warm up, we took a small step, then another small step during the race.”
We saw Márquez against a Ducati again in the last corner of the last lap. But it ended differently. What was different today?
“I tried to manage in the same way as in Austria with Jorge, to come out on top in the last sector. That was my main goal. I couldn't reach it in Austria because I lost too much in turn 3, but here I prepared throughout the race to overtake in turn 5 and I was able to do it because when there were 3 left rounds, I tried to do it to see how it went. But I couldn't brake the bike, the rear was bouncing a lot and started to chatter. I couldn't brake the bike well and I said to myself "OK, if Dovi comes in front, he will win". So I tried to play my cards another way, and it worked well, but it was very, very close. We both deserve the victory because he really had a good race.”
What did you like about Thailand, the country, the people, and is there anything to improve on the circuit for the next few years?
“If I understand the question about Thailand correctly, we have done a lot of events in the past with our manufacturer because we know that it is a very important country for Honda, Yamaha, Ducati and all the manufacturers, because they sell there a lot of motorbikes and there are a lot of fans. Its very important. So they deserved a circuit and MotoGP, Dorna, were looking to have a good circuit here. And we can say that they achieved their goal because the Buriram circuit is really good. The asphalt works well. Even with the extreme heat, which is not easy, and the clearance areas are also functional, just like the boxes. So the Thais have a good circuit for many years and we hope to come back here for many years to please the fans.”
All weekend we talked about the tires and the high temperature. How much did you have to manage the tires during the race?
" Good. I expected to handle it better. Because during the weekend I drove on really worn tires and I felt strong. It was really good. But during the race, for whatever reason, the degradation was significant towards the end and I suffered. But yes, as the other pilots said, there was a different carcass here. We therefore had to adapt the bike to this casing during the weekend, and this significantly changed our settings. Now we will see when the normal carcasses will return. It worked well, especially with the hard tire as the other tires struggled a bit to finish the race. But I think Rins had a software and he was very fast. I think, eh, I’m not sure.”
It was Espargaro…
“Espargaro?” Only him ? So yes, in the end, the hard tire was the right choice for everyone.”
MotoGP Thailand Grand Prix Race standings:
Photo credits and classification: MotoGP.com
