On this Saturday August 7, 2021, Marc Márquez answered questions from journalists from the Red Bull Ring circuit, at the end of the second day of the Styrian MotoGP Grand Prix in Austria.
We went to listen (via teleconferencing software) to the words of the Spanish driver, who took eighth place in qualifying but could have done even better if he had not suffered a fall during his last flying lap.
As usual, we report here the words of Marc Márquez without the slightest formatting.
Marc, can you talk about your day at the Red Bull Ring, and in particular the accident you suffered?
" In As for the accident, it was completely my fault: I braked a little later than usual and was way too fast in the corner. It was a slow corner, but I told myself that I was still going to go like that, I didn't want to give up on this lap. It was my last and what's more, I knew full well that I could still progress quite a bit. But it doesn't matter, I crashed and I will have to start from eighth place on the grid. »
« It promises to be a nice, long race, very interesting. In particular, we will have to master a lot of things, such as tires, fuel consumption, but also the limits of the track. In certain turns it is indeed easy to make small mistakes and find yourself off track. Particularly in turns 3 and 9 you can be sure that you are on track, and yet the rear wheel is slightly out of alignment and hits a sensor which cancels your turn. This is something that we will have to be very careful about because if we take a long lap, it can destroy our race. »
“If we take a long lap, it could destroy our race here”
« But putting all that aside, I'm very happy with my day because my race pace was good. Certainly on a flying lap we don't get all the quintessence of the bike, but as far as the racing pace is concerned it's not bad. The race is going to be long, and we know that Ducati is very strong over one lap, and we will have to see what that gives with the degradation of the tires. »
Have you returned to the bike with the old chassis?
« We keep making comparisons because we're still not sure which one is better. It's true that right now I'm focusing more on the new. We're gathering a lot of information and trying different things with the settings. During FP4 I explained to my team that I needed to do two rides on the same bike, because we really focused on race pace. »
Fuel consumption is one of the highest of the year here…
« One of the most important of the year, it's true. I would say that the most energy-intensive circuits from this point of view are the Red Bull Ring, Motegi, and Thailand too. »
With all these track limitations present here, it seems like you don't just have to drive with your heart, but your head as well. What is your opinion on this?
"This which is the most difficult are the braking points which require different visual references. It is very easy to make a mistake by coming into a corner too quickly. This is particularly the case in turn 1 where you can easily find yourself outside the limits. We are on a track where, if you ride well, you really enjoy the bike. But if for some reason you start to struggle, it can quickly escalate. This is a bit of what happened to me between yesterday and today. »
MotoGP, Styrian Grand Prix: Qualifying results
Credit rankings: MotoGP.com
