The races come and go, but they are not always the same. While yesterday Álex Márquez climbed onto the podium alongside his brother, this Sunday he had to settle for fourth place, which was probably decided at the start.
Marc Márquez forgot to deactivate his holeshot device and found himself slowing down on the racing line just after the first corner. With Álex Márquez right behind him, he was forced to slow down as well and found himself boxed in. Worse still, he forgot to shift gears, dropping him to sixth place, despite starting third on the grid.
"He really messed up, didn't he?" he said, laughing into the DAZN microphone. "I thought [the device] hadn't deactivated, but he'd forgotten to do it. I said to him, 'Seriously, how could this happen to you?' [laughs]. In the end, we're only human, we make mistakes sometimes. These things can happen."
“With that mix-up between turns 1 and 2, I didn’t shift into third. That’s why I didn’t accelerate between turns 2 and 3. Then I shifted into third and everything fell into place. But I was right behind Marc. In these kinds of situations, being a little further back allows you to better anticipate where there will be space. Given my proximity, I rushed things a bit. A little more patience at that moment and an attack in turn 3 would have been preferable. But that’s how it goes ,” he explained.
Having climbed back up to fourth place on the second lap, he held that position until the checkered flag, running a solo race. He took his brother's mistake in stride, believing he wouldn't have been able to contend for a podium finish.
“I don’t think the result would have changed much. I didn’t have the feeling I was hoping for, but I expected that before the race; I knew the podium would be hotly contested. The top three had that little something extra ,” he concluded.
Results of the Aragon Grand Prix :
Ranking and cover photo credit: MotoGP.com