The last Austrian Grand Prix was experienced as a relief. Firstly at Ducati, who rediscovered the taste of a regular victory in the final moments after a tough battle started from the first laps of the race. Everywhere else, too, by not finally seeing Marc Marquez in triumphal march mode for an inevitable outcome. At Honda, we're not taking the hit, but almost...
Marc Márquez was taken at his own game in a grandiose finale of the last Austrian Grand Prix. The last stroke of madness winning at the last corner is his reputation. But this time it's the generally placid Andrea Dovizioso who slapped him on the snout in this way.
Marc Márquez had it, for a moment, bad, since he proclaimed to anyone who would listen that no one would remember this setback when he celebrates his title in a few months... Pretentious is the Honda official? At HRC, we captured the tone to better extinguish any misinterpretation: “ we run to win, but when someone beats you, you have to accept their defeat and congratulate them " coward Alberto puig at the time of assessment. “ But in these situations you also have to go back and try harder next time, that's the mentality of Honda and Marc ».
It must be said that the latter fell a bit from a height, as he had dominated his subject so much during the test sessions. In the race, the story was different and it's the same Puig which explains the change of heart: “ the strategy was to try to get a good, consistent pace and then see where we would be, as we always do. The choice of tires was, we're not going to say a mistake, but if we had chosen a different rear tire the result would have been different. I'm pretty sure of that. But, as we saw, Marc managed to stand firm and stay in the fight for victory until the end ».
« From the wall, we only see one thing. It is very simple. Throughout the weekend, Márquez had a pace 0,3 or 0,4 seconds faster than the others. But on race day he couldn't achieve what we saw in practice. Maybe the rain changed the track and the grip, we're not entirely sure, but there was something different. We immediately understood that the situation had not developed as expected. Of course, in races, plans and predictions can change in minutes " said Alberto puig.
