Marquez followed Vinales on both races in Q1 at Mugello on Saturday, with the Honda rider taking advantage of this to sail into Q2 while Vinales ultimately missed and will start 13th.
Despite being visibly frustrated with Marquez – who even followed Vinales through the pit lane trying to find clear air – the Yamaha rider didn’t blame Marquez for his Q1 exit and admitted he was simply not going fast enough was.
Yamaha boss Massimo Meregalli described the tactics of Marquez as “not fair”, which the Honda driver agreed and apologized to Vinales.
“Yeah, I met Maverick before I went on TV,” he said when asked by Motorsport.com about his take on post-qualifying events in 11th place.
“First of all, I apologized because I know it wasn’t entirely fair and I said, ‘You have reason to be angry.’
“On the other hand, I wasn’t that bad this morning, I was really bad in the afternoon.
“I mean, for some reason, because of the physical condition, the bike, everything, I wasn’t feeling that good and I stopped in FP4 before the end and said to the team, ‘I don’t feel the bike, I don’t feel anything, we have to follow someone ‘.
“We checked the list, the fastest was Vinales. If it had been someone else, we would have chosen someone else.
“Then I followed him, that was the tactic, because that’s the only way I could improve.
“I would like to be in a different level and position to be ahead and the others will follow me as they have done so often in the past.
“But I’m not like that. I know because I’ve had this feeling about Maverick’s doing in the past and that’s why I apologized.
“But in the end it’s within the rules – at the limit, but within the rules.
“I tried to find the perfect situation to reach my 100% and get the best possible result.”
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Marquez struggled with pain in his right shoulder all weekend and even told the Spanish press on Friday that an early exit from the Italian GP was a possibility.
However, he says he has to finish the race to improve his physical condition on the bike but admits that “it’s a mentally tough process”.
“Basically the feeling today was better than yesterday, but the arm strength was less in the afternoon,” he explained.
“And here it has a very strong effect on the change of direction.
“The shoulder hurts, but yesterday it was maybe a little pain in my arm.
“But today it also started in the neck. It is as if the muscles around the shoulder are working more than normal and I am not as fit as with the other arm.
“Then it gets worse, all the muscles around the shoulder.
“But tomorrow in the race … I joked with Maverick and said, ‘You’re going to pass me.’
“I know my position and it doesn’t matter if it’s 14th, 10th or 8th place – I don’t know what the position will be, but I know that I will finish the race, do a few laps and kilometers have to do.
“It’s a tough mental process, but we have to do it.”