Marc Marquez has admitted he gave away an “easy podium” by being “too optimistic” and crashing out of the MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix sprint race.
Gresini rider Marquez was running second behind race leader Francesco Bagnaia on lap 10 of 14 when he tucked the front heading into the uphill Turn 3, barely hanging on to his Ducati as he hit the deck.
Although the six-time champion was able to get the bike running again, he was forced to pull into the pits at the end of the lap to retire from the race, losing nine crucial points in his fight with the factory Ducati of Enea Bastianini for third in the standings.
While it was the third time he had suffered a crash in the sprint race in the last four race weekends, the Spielberg fall was different as he had the pace to run close to the faster GP24s of title contenders Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.
Asked to explain what caused the crash, the Spaniard said: “[What] happened that I was too optimistic.
“Honestly it was an easy podium. I was riding super good. In the first part of the race, I said ‘okay I will be calm’.
“They [Bagnaia and Martin] have a half step more than me. Yesterday, [it] was one, today half.
“And [in] the last laps I felt something. I feel like ‘okay, time to attack’. When five laps remained and I did attack, I recovered something because I was riding super smooth.
“Then I tried to attack a bit more, but I was too optimistic on Turn 3. That lap already I did my fastest T1 of the race and I pushed too much. But [I pushed too much] because it was a long time that I didn't feel that I was able to fight for the victory [and now I could].
“Of course, I think Pecco had something more but at least we were close to him.”
Marquez revealed that he had locked the tyres going into the right-hander, prompting him to release the brakes in an attempt to slow down his bike.
However, the bike actually picked up pace because his tyres had locked up, leaving him on the ground.
“It's quite difficult to understand the limit of the track, especially when you are riding behind the others, because in the morning with the cooler temperatures, 15 degrees less on the race track, the riding style is completely different.
“Today in the race I was locking the front a lot and it was much more difficult.
“In fact, before the crash I had a lock on the brakes and I released the brakes a bit and then when I pulled again, that’s when I crashed because of the speed. When you have a lock, the speed increases.”
Marquez took a conservative approach in the British Grand Prix a fortnight ago after having a similar late crash in the sprint race.
However, the 31-year-old doesn’t think he needs to take it easy this time around, and believes a fifth grand prix podium of the year could be on the cards on Sunday.
“The crash of Silverstone makes me feel much worse than today,” he said. “Today I feel like I don't like to crash but at least I was there [on the pace]. I was fighting for that top positions.
“But it's true that tomorrow if we are smart we can have that third place in a good mode. But then let's see during the race when you put the hammer, you don't know.”
