The bike? The tires? No, Marc Márquez isn't making excuses: "The problem is me

The reigning MotoGP champion disappointed over the Silverstone weekend, but he only blames himself: will there be a comeback at Aragon?

Ninth in the sprint race and seventh in the main race—those are not Marc Marquez results for the nine-time world champion in Great Britain. Something didn’t work properly, and the Ducati garage will need to analyze everything carefully to prevent a repeat of such a situation over the rest of the season.

Even though Silverstone went badly, there’s no need for doom and gloom: the next MotoGP Grand Prix is at Aragon (August 28–30), a venue where he has won 8 races and 2 sprints. The track has a majority of left-hand corners, so it should suit him. In England he took the defeat on the chin and needs to understand it well, but it’s too early for definitive judgments.

The Ducati Lenovo team rider took responsibility for the flop at the British track: "The bike was good, the tires were good, but I couldn’t find a way to do better. Seventh place was something we expected; the most optimistic result was to finish in the top five. The problem is me, and I need to manage it. The arm? I need to improve my endurance."

On Saturday there had been a sharp drop-off with the soft rear tire after 3–4 laps, and within the Ducati camp there was hope for greater competitiveness using the medium in the long race. But the only truly competitive rider was Alex Marquez, who also had a shot at the podium. Speaking about his brother, Marc said: "Even last year, when I was in top form, Alex was faster than me on this circuit. He’s riding very well and he’s simply quicker than us. We have the same bike."

Marc, the elder, was missing something in his riding, and studying what Alex did could help him, because Alex made a big difference compared to the other Ducati riders. Starting from seventh on the grid and making a mistake in the race prevented him from getting the best possible result, but it was clear to everyone that he had podium potential on Sunday.

When asked at Silverstone if he was worried, the reigning MotoGP champion appeared fairly calm: "It depends on your goal. My goal is to have fun on the bike. The World Championship? If I don’t win it, it won’t change my life in the future. I’ve fought enough during my career; I’ll fight when I feel good. But if I don’t feel good, I still want to stay on the bike."

Even though we’re sure he wants that tenth world title, Marquez is very smart in managing himself and knows when to push and when it’s better to avoid risks. He doesn’t want to get injured again, and in such a long championship, with two races per weekend, it’s important to avoid DNFs and physical issues. Better to settle for seventh than risk a crash and injury trying to finish fifth or sixth. In the overall standings he is 40 points behind leader Jorge Martin, so he is still fully in the hunt to confirm himself as world champion. The next GP at Aragon could be a great opportunity to return to winning ways.

The original article with the interview in Spanish on Motosan.es