Alex Marquez: “I was sh*tting my pants!” | Marini “Not dangerous, just scary” | Miller “Have a gander before cutting back”
With hindsight Marquez, who was under pressure from Luca Mariꦚni and Johann Zarco, admitted it miꦓght have been better to settle for a top five.
But the sce🎶ne of his downfall, the apex of turn two, was also the last place he expected to lose the front of his GP22.
“I was pushing in a good way until that point,” said Marq🍒uez, who had crashed out of Saturday’s sprint after contact with Brad Binder. “I was suffering already a little bit with the front ty🐽re, but not at that point.
“I was expecting to lose the front everywhere apart from there. So I was too confident in that point. I got in a little bit more [tight to the kerb], I touched the white line also a little bit more, there’s a little bum⛄p and I lost the front.
“A shame because we were fighting for a pod🧜ium. Maybe today, I needed to say, ‘OK, take a top five’. But it was a podium an𓆏d I tried for it."
Alex Marquez: “I was sh*tting my pants!”
Earlier in the race, Maꦑrquez had a big scare in the turn 1 braking zone when, unable to scrub off enough speed, he was forced to try and&n🌟bsp;weave between brother Marc and Luca Marini, then inside KTM’s Jack Miller.
After running a little wide at turn one, the #73 made contact with Miller as he pulled his Ducati back towards the racin༒g line. Both fortunately remained upright.
“It was really, really s༺trange,” Marquez said. “But it’s what we always say, ജthe slipstream absorbs you.
“I was not real꧙ly late on the brakes because, as you saw, I didn't turn too far [from the apex🧜]. And I was braking with the same pressure as always.
“But when you lose all the downforce and have two bikes [ahead]. It was like impossi🦩ble. ‘Vroom’ [I went between them].
“I said🐈 ‘f**k𓆉’! I was shitting my pants, honestly!”
Luca Marini: “Not so dangerous, just scary”
VR46ꦬ Ducati rider Marini ad♋mitted it had been a scary moment as Marquez whizzed past, but was impressed by how he then got the bike stopped.
“With the slip💞stream in the braking of Turn 1, it's very difficult. Also because the bike starts to shake a lot," Marini said.
“I didn't expecꦜt that he could stop the bike, so he made a fantastic ‘pass’. Also the soft rear tyre helped him a lot, because I saw him pushing with the rear brake, try to keep the bike [from going too wide], and it worked.
“It was not so dꦯang൲erous. Just scary, because it was really fast.”
Jack Miller: “Have a gander before cutting back”
Miller agreed it’s easy to get caught out under braking from the highest top speeds of the se💃ason but wasn’t pl💫eased with the way Marquez tried to cut back after running wide, initiating their contact.
"If 🐈you 🔜get a double slipstream and then you lift the rear going into turn one, yeah, it's an easy thing to do," said the Australian.
“But you generally always have a gander at where you are coming back into. It's not like he missed the line by half a metre [at turn 1], he missed it by three. And then cut back, very similar to what he did on the first corner [⛄of the Sprint].
“Nothing much I could do. I was ༺just trying to avoid the carnage. It is what it is. He stayed on the bike, so that’s a positive. And I didn't get a Long Lap penalty, so that's positive too!”
Binder had received a Lo💖ng Lap penalty afteꦓr contact with Marquez sent the Ducati rider down at turn one of the Sprint.
Marini and Miller went on🐬 to finish fourth and seventh respectively.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit stor𝔍y and Marc Marquez’s ♔injury issues.
