MADRID, 14 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The MotoGP rider Álex Márquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) highlighted on Tuesday being more “calm” to put an end to his “doubts” for the new season, after bordering on “obsession” last year, while in the pools ‘ continues to “give his brother Marc as a favourite”, while he prefers to go “‘covered'”.
“On paper, in the sprint race we are fourth, two tenths from the podium, but it is a test, it is not known where we will be. It will depend a lot on the degradation. In the preseason they do not give points. I told my brother that I will be ‘top 5’ and told me ‘count on you’ll be sixth, because I’ll be fifth'”, he confessed in a meeting with the media organized by Estrella Galicia 0’0.
The Moto3 champion in 2014 and Moto2 in 2019 admitted that he arrives “better” than his brother at the start of the new season. “But he is Marc Márquez, he will get better for sure,” he warned, taking into account that in preseason “some show his cards, others teach a little and others keep a lot.” “At Honda they are controlling the risks, they don’t go with everything,” he assured.
“At 21 races I still give him (Marc Márquez) as a favorite, he is the most complete as a driver. You also have to have the weapons to fight, but he is the most complete. I like the ‘covered’ thing, but I don’t like “I see in the ointment, I lack a point to be there. I see myself a bit reflected in Bastianini last year, nobody thought that he could be fighting for the World Cup, although now I’m not at the point that he was to win four races” he mused.
Álex Márquez appreciated his brother’s current relationship with the Japanese factory and pointed out that “with a Ducati he would be better and would be in a very different situation”. “But for him to stay at Honda and that’s more entertaining,” he joked about the future of Marc, who he sees wearing Honda colors for many years. “I can’t imagine Marc leaving Honda, I think he’ll fulfill his entire contract, then we’ll see, in the future you never know. If he makes a change from Honda, the goal should be the bike, not financially,” he added.
“The four most fit for Portimao are Francesco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo, Jorge Martín and Marc (Márquez), my brother can’t get out of any pool. And for the title, I see a three-way fight between ‘Pecco’, Fabio and Marc “, he analyzed, while in his personal case it would be a “good result” to finish ‘top 7’ or ‘top 8’ in the World Cup.
“IT CAME TO A POINT WHERE I BECAME OBSESSED, I WANT TO END MY DOUBTS”
And to achieve this, after finishing seventeenth last year with the LCR Honda CASTROL, he highlighted his improvement by signing for Gresini and riding Ducati. “It is clearly better than my Honda from last year, you just have to look at the times, they are all ahead. In all aspects it has something positive, it is better in acceleration and braking; the engine is smooth, but with a lot of power”, he praised.
“The Honda is more aggressive, you don’t understand it so much; the Ducati is much more predictable. It’s easier to handle because it gives you more information, at Honda everything was crazy,” he added about the handling of the two machines, before praising the way of working of the Italian team. “They get the maximum information from each bike. They go to the box every morning and every afternoon, that’s cool and it didn’t happen at Honda. When there is a problem at Ducati, they calm you down and try to solve it. In Japan, they hold a two-hour meeting “, critical.
“Now I’m calmer. Before there came a point where I became too obsessed, when things turn out for you everything is easier. I want to put an end to my doubts and show myself that I haven’t forgotten to go fast. I have Marc next door, it’s inevitable that they talk more about me, I’m used to having more pressure,” he commented on his current situation after leaving Honda.
The one from Cervera, who is “cool” with the “show” with the sprint races, lamented that now there are “less differences between drivers” that means that “you cannot overtake”. “It is becoming Formula 1 ‘of the siesta’, when you saw the start and the end, because they went ahead in the pits, and here we do not have them. We often go online, by train,” he ironized.
“They are depriving us of a certain spectacle. Now those who are big fans of motorcycles watch the races, before, in the open, the grandmother of the town and the grandchildren watched it. Now, if the father is not a big fan of motorcycles, the children do not see it. Formula 1 nailed it with Netflix, just with the ‘mess’ between Verstappen and Hamilton”, he applauded his ‘brothers’ in the ‘mostorsport’.
Finally, he believes that an association of pilots in the Motorcycle World Championship is “one hundred percent necessary” to “have more voice.” “Although it is difficult to get all the pilots to agree, the step has not been taken. There has to be a representative, but it does not have to be a pilot, for me it has to be a lawyer,” he said.