Marc Marquez admits he expects championship rivals Alex Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia to be “better than him” at the Qatar MotoGP round.
Marquez comes to the Lusail International Circuit after his crash from the lead in COTA, which saw him drop to second in the standings.
The Spanish rider has only won the Qatar Grand Prix once in his MotoGP career and has already admitted that he expects his rivals to be better than him at this circuit.
“It’s the first circuit that theoretically Alex and Pecco are better than me, by the historic results,” he said in the pre-weekend press conference.
“But let’s see what I can do. If here I am competitive, it will be a very good sign for me. If not, I’ll try to work to improve.”
Marquez also suggested there were positives to take from his crash out of the AmericasGP, despite losing his championship lead and perfect start to the season.
“This is racing. The good thing is that we crashed leading the race by two seconds and a half and I was riding in a very good way,” he added.
“Yeah, I did a mistake but I know why: I slowed down too much on that Turn 3, and then I jumped in too early on that Turn 4.
“But ok, it happened. The good thing is with that big mistake still we are second in the championship, just one point behind the leader.
“So, here it looks like everything restarts and let’s see what we can do during the weekend.”
