MotoGP Malaysia Day 3 Debriefing Alex Marquez (Ducati/1): "I'm the first of the losers (laughs)", etc. (Full)

The press conference at the end of the Grand Prix from Malaysia MotoGP 2025 met in Sepang Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), Peter Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Joan mir (Honda HRC Castrol) for their post-race debriefing.

Saturday, Alex Marquez secured second place in the general classification, just behind his brother Marc, thus giving the whole first double for brothers in the history of MotoGP.
He finished second in the Sprint for his thirteenth podium this season, and first since his second place at Misano earlier this year.
On Sunday, he claimed his third MotoGP Grand Prix victory, following those at the Spanish and Catalan Grand Prix earlier this year.
This is his eleventh MotoGP podium this season, four fewer than his brother Marc Márquez, who has the most podiums with fifteen.

As usual, we report here in full the words of the latter, without the slightest formatting, even if it is translated from English.

🎤 Welcome to the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix post-race press conference.
On the top step of the podium we find Alex Márquez, author of an incredible race in the special colors of BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP - congratulations.
In second place, after an exceptional battle, Pedro Acosta for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, and finally, a great comeback and a second podium of the season for Joan Mir, from Honda HRC Castrol Team: your smile says it all, congratulations to all three of you!

🎤 Alex, we're starting with you. The weekend may have started a little more difficult than you would have liked, but even before the event, many of us had your name ticked off as one of the main favorites to beat here.
What you achieved today was almost perfect from the first turn. How are you feeling? Did everything go as planned?
Alex Marquez: “Yes… I mean, yes, it’s true that I made a mistake this weekend thinking things would be too easyAnd then when you start the weekend with a crash already in FP1, then another crash during the practice session, and you go into Q2 in ninth position, a bit on the edge… well, it was quite complicated.
The conditions, and especially the feeling with the bike, have changed a lot since February here. The surface, the track conditions, everything was really different. So yes, step by step, over the weekend, we managed to get things back on track.
Yesterday, you know, I already said it in a press conference: I was not riding the motorcycle freely. I was thinking too much about securing second place in the championship, and I didn't attack Pecco when I should have.
So today the plan was clear. We improved the feeling a little bit in warm-up, and then, you know, I was smart in how I applied the plan: attack Pedro on the first lap, Pecco on the second, and then just try to manage the tires until the end.
It was truly a perfect race, and yes, I am very happy about that.”

🎤 Did you have a moment in mind where you planned to, kind of, let go of the brakes and push hard? Because there was one lap where, suddenly, you went off and gained about four to five tenths, while the others were staying on a pretty similar pace, around 2 minutes. Was that part of your plan as well?
– "Yes, that was the plan. That was the plan, not to exaggerate, not to overdrive the pace, because here you can quickly pay for it later with the rear tire. So I just tried to be very gentle with the gas, you know.
The front tire was also difficult to control, there were a lot of moments where it got stuck, and yes, it was complicated. But like I said, we handled everything perfectly, and we did things the right way."

🎤 This race seemed to be mostly about managing the soft rear tire. And, from what I understand from Michelin, the big gap between the medium and the soft comes from the fact that at the beginning of the weekend it was colder than usual, and the track had little grip.
Now that it was very hot, would it not have been worth taking the risk of using the medium tire, or was it simply because you did not have enough data on it?
- " No, the medium was even worse, both for pace and wear. It was really strange. I mean, on this track, the soft has always clearly been the race tire.
This year, it's true that there was a greater degradation, but the medium was even worse. The problem is that at the beginning, you were a second, or even a second and a half slower, and it was the same at the end. So there was no reason to turn up the medium.
For this reason, we chose the tender one, and we simply tried to manage it from start to finish."

🎤 Alex, you had a great first half of the season. Then, during the summer, it was more difficult for different reasons, and now you're coming back stronger. How difficult is it to be consistent over a whole season, when there are 20 races, and now 22 this year?
– “I mean… it’s quite difficult. It’s true that in the middle part of the season we lost the thread a bit, especially after the crash at Assen. I got injured, and then you start not riding like you should., due to pain, in the wrist, hand, or other part of the body.
You're not forcing the bike the right way anymore, you're not making it turn and get up the way it's supposed to, and all that. So at that point, we kind of lost the right direction.
We took a step back and said to ourselves: “OK, we're going in the wrong direction. We need to turn back.”
And from there we were able to suffer a little bit on some circuits, like in Japan, but When you suffer and you finish sixth, it's already a step forward., you see.
This is what we needed. There were also the nerves and pressure of fighting for second place, which is never easy to deal with.
But ultimately, now that we're freer, we have to manage it better and enjoy the last two races we have left."

🎤 Alex, how do you rate finishing second in the championship, behind your brother Marc, compared to your Moto3 and Moto2 titles? Do you consider it an achievement of the same level, or perhaps even more important?
– “No… similar! I mean, it’s similar, because it’s a second place, but it’s not a normal second place for me.
You know, My journey in MotoGP has not been easy, from the very beginning.
I started 2020 very well, with two podiums in my rookie season at Repsol Honda. But then I moved to LCR, and there I suffered a lot for two years.
In 2023, I was almost home, and, you know, just with a little bit of luck or something like that, I had the opportunity to join Gresini. For that reason, it's really, really special.
And I'm second, yes, I am the first of the losers (laughs), I would say it like that. But the winner is my brother, and that's different, you know, it's a different feeling.
So yes, it's something perfect, and special because of the path we've traveled, the point where we come from. For this reason, it is a very good second place. »

🎤 Alex, what's your secret at Sepang? I mean, why do you always have such a good feeling here, and why do you always set such good times at this circuit?
– "What's up with Sepang? I mean, I don't really know. I think It's a circuit where you need to have a very good rhythm, a sort of fluidity in driving..
But above all, here, the level of grip that you must have with your motorcycle must be quite high.
So, on circuits where the grip is very high, we suffer a lot, really a lot, a lot, a lot, with the front pushing, and all that kind of stuff.
However, On a circuit like this, where the grip is low and changes a lot, it suits our bike and my riding style better.. That's why we're always pretty fast here."