Marc Marquez after Qatar: “It wasn’t the right time to take any extra risks”

The Aprilia duo of Bezzecchi and Fernandez pull away, whilst Marc Marquez remains calm for the time being – Why the Ducati rider deliberately refrained from early attacks in Qatar

Marc Marquez (Ducati) was conspicuously held back at the start of the Qatar Grand Prix. Whilst Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse-Aprilia) pulled away at the front, the Ducati rider refrained from an early attack and even dropped back as far as fourth place at one stage.

However, there was a clear plan behind this: Marquez wanted to conserve his front tyre and only take more risks when the right opportunity arose. When he noticed that Fernandez was running into increasing problems towards the end of the race, he changed his strategy.

“I was very calm in the first few laps because that was my strategy. I’d thought it through carefully,” said Marquez after the race. He was aware that an aggressive start could become a problem over the full race distance. In particular, he didn’t want to put too much strain on the right-hand side of the front tyre too early on.

“I knew I could damage the front tyre on the right-hand side if I pushed hard in the first three laps. Then I might have run into problems for the whole race,” explained the Ducati rider.

That’s why he deliberately accepted falling behind at first: “I’d rather lose one and a half or two seconds in the first three or four laps. In return, I knew I could ride at a good level over the following 15 laps,” Marquez continued.

Marquez waits for his chance

The fact that Bezzecchi and Fernandez pulled away at the front initially was therefore no cause for panic for Marquez. He also knew that he couldn’t keep up with the Italian’s pace anyway. Bezzecchi had already shown a clear advantage in practice.

“When you see that Marco is half a second faster than me in practice, there’s nothing you can do. You might be able to follow him for two laps, but not 22,” said Marquez, explaining his decision. Accordingly, he initially focused on holding his position and conserving his tyres for the second half of the race.

Whilst Bezzecchi controlled the race at the front, Fernández was finding it increasingly difficult. The Trackhouse rider had to switch to an economy engine setting as early as lap six or seven due to fuel consumption. As a result, he no longer had full engine power at his disposal. Meanwhile, Márquez steadily closed the gap on Fernández.

On lap 13, the Ducati rider set the fastest lap of the race with a time of 1:52.558 minutes. With four laps to go, he was already right behind Fernandez. “When I saw that I could catch up with Fernandez, it was a lovely bonus,” said Marquez after the night race.

Four extra points thanks to a late gamble

At the start of lap 20, Marquez seized his chance on the start-finish straight and overtook Fernandez. This secured second place for him. However, he was unable to catch Bezzecchi. The Italian won with a lead of 3.083 seconds.

Marquez’s decision to attack once more in the closing stages was a deliberate one. “In the end, third place would have been fine, but I saw that Fernández was running into trouble. After all, you never know what might happen. That’s why I went on the attack and secured four extra points,” said the Ducati rider, explaining his strategic approach during the race.

His initial caution was therefore clearly justified. “Today wasn’t the right time to take that extra risk,” Marquez concluded.

Over the course of the entire weekend in Qatar, the championship leader scored 32 points and is understandably pleased: “We’ve picked up the maximum number of points possible for us. 32 points is a lot.” The focus is now on the penultimate Grand Prix of the season, where Marquez has a great chance of becoming MotoGP World Champion for the eighth time.