Marc Marquez chose to bring home important points to the Gresini Ducati team rather than risk crashing out in Sunday’s MotoGP race at Silverstone, following a tumble in Saturday’s Sprint.
The eight-time champion explained the reasoning behind his decision not to mount a late race podium charge, stating his crash in Saturday’s Sprint race still played on his mind.
He crashed out of the Sprint race at Vale with two laps remaining while sitting in fourth spot, chasing a top-three finish.
On Sunday’s race, Marquez was once again one of the lead riders aboard the GP23, running fourth with future factory Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia occupying the last podium spot.
The Spaniard opted to secure fourth place rather than risk everything for a podium with a chance of his race ending in the gravel trap.
“Without the crash of Saturday, maybe the podium was possible – or another crash, you never know,” he said.
“When I overtook Aleix [Espargaro], I just pushed two, three laps to open a gap and then I was controlling [the pace] more behind Pecco for my mentality, because I cannot make two mistakes in the same way, Saturday and Sunday.
“For that reason I said I prefer to finish and to have a good feeling for [the next round in] Austria than to arrive there without good confidence.”
Marquez struggled and stated he felt “lost” on Friday, leaving him with no other option but taking a tow from Pramac’s Jorge Martin to make it through to Q2.
Marquez tried to use the tow once more in Q2, but the plan backfired as the Gresini rider had to abort the lap due to being stuck behind the VR46 duo of Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Di Giannantonio.
After finishing fourth in Sunday’s GP, the 31-year-old stated that he performed above his expectations considering where he started the weekend.
“Honestly speaking, [fourth place] was a great surprise because the [main] thing of the weekend is that we were always on delay,” he said.
“Then in the warm-up we tried something that helps me a bit more, for that reason I was able to keep the pace with the front riders in the beginning of the race so this was the best surprise for me.
“I never have been quick and fast with the medium rear tyre and medium front, but I feel super good in the race.
“I was quite conservative in the end because the mistake from Saturday was in my shoulder [sic].”
