Marc Marquez admits after the sprint: He feels the pressure of the World Championship decision in Motegi – brother Alex struggles with feeling for the front wheel and remains pointless in the sprint
The points gap between the Marquez brothers will determine this weekend at the Japanese Grand Prix whether Marc Marquez can already celebrate the world championship title in Motegi. Alex Marquez has had two very difficult days so far with his Gresini team.
“Well, this weekend I never had a really good feeling for the front wheel—that’s the main problem,” said Alex Marquez after the sprint. In qualifying, he initially made it into Q2 with second place in Q1 and qualified for the middle of the third row of the grid.
“After this Friday, you can’t wait for a miracle—something where you suddenly have everything under control and everything runs perfectly. I think we’ve made a really good step forward compared to yesterday,” said Alex Marquez.
“We’ve greatly improved the feeling and everything else, but we’re a little late. In the sprint, the feeling for the front wheel was even worse because my front tire suffered from the temperature when I was riding in the pack behind Quartararo, Marini, and Raul.”
As a result, Alex Marquez was not flawless, fell behind local hero Ai Ogura, and missed out on the points in tenth place. At the same time, his brother finished second, earning nine World Championship points.
“I mean, in a normal race, he’ll definitely be champion tomorrow,” said Alex Marquez, who has no intention of postponing the decision until Indonesia. “We just have to focus on ourselves and try to salvage the weekend as best we can.”
“We have to be realistic. If we had the pace to win—like in Montmelo—then we would have a good chance tomorrow. But tomorrow, my pace is more likely to be for sixth to tenth place. We have to remain realistic. Indonesia will be a different story, I hope.”
Marc Marquez is also struggling more than usual in Motegi
But Marc Marquez has not had a smooth weekend either. He has not been able to replicate his dominance this season at Motegi. Starting from third on the grid, he put himself in a good position.
But in the sprint, he struggled for a long time to get past Joan Mir (Honda) and Pedro Acosta (KTM) until he finally managed to overtake them. “I felt heavier than usual,” Marc Marquez admitted after Saturday’s race. “I was more in a defensive position, with a more defensive riding style, just more cautious overall. And yes, it’s true that in the first part of the race it was also difficult to overtake Joan and Pedro because they brake extremely late.”
“Apart from that, it’s true that I’m not riding perfectly this weekend. In the last part of the sprint, I started to ride better. Let’s see if we can improve tomorrow.” Nevertheless, Marc Marquez took second place. When asked whether this “sluggish feeling” is also related to the World Championship situation, he replied:
“Yes, because nothing has changed. I have the same bike as in Misano and the same bike as in the other races—only the situation is different.”
“It’s true that I’ve experienced this situation in the past, but back then I was more used to winning. It sounds strange, but I was more used to understanding what a world championship means.“
”I would say that in the past I didn’t really appreciate the value of the titles. Now I know that I am paying a high price for this title in every respect. I feel a little closer to it every day. That puts extra weight on my shoulders.”
But with his brother having a difficult weekend, could Marc Marquez take it easy? “The fact that Alex is struggling a little more than usual makes me even more cautious than usual. So yes, we’ll see.”
“It’s true that it’s tricky – we’re seeing a lot of crashes this weekend. I always try to think a lot. For example, I don’t know what place I finished in the races in 2016, 2017, or 2018 when I won the championship—I never checked.“ ”I only know about 2019 because I had a nice duel with Fabio [Quartararo] back then. But I don’t know about the other years, so I don’t care. Let’s see if we can wrap up the championship tomorrow.“
”I’ll try to get a good start and ride my race, but keep everything under control. It’s true that if something happens tomorrow, I’ll say, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll have another chance next week.’ But let’s see if we can wrap it up tomorrow.”
To become world champion in Japan, Marc Marquez must have a 185-point lead over his brother after tomorrow’s Grand Prix. After the sprint, his lead is already 191 points (All World Championship scenarios for the Grand Prix).
