The six-time MotoGP world champion was one of the few riders to opt for the soft rear tire at the Barcelona race on Sunday because he felt that “today is the time to take a risk” as it “doesn’t matter” saw just “burning fuel”. .
Marquez drove into the podium battle on those early laps after starting 13th, but crashed for the third straight race when he slipped at Turn 10 on Tour eight.
The Honda rider says he was forced to make the mistake when the pace was increased at the front and he knew he had to keep up to stay in the game until the end.
Disappointed with the fall, Marquez insists that he’d rather do a “good seven laps” and crash than just wiggle as he picks up speed after his injury-related absence in 2020.
“Yes, today I enjoyed it, I pushed,” said Marquez when asked about his crash by Motorsport.com.
“I was Marc. And for me it was the best seven rounds of the year.
“So I drove as I wanted and stood on the grid and said, ‘Ok, today it’s time to take a chance’.
“I mean, it doesn’t matter where we are, no matter where I’m from, I don’t care what people can say.
“I believed that today is the day I have to take a risk because it doesn’t matter to me just burning fuel and tires when I’m driving for P12.
“Well, it’s exactly what I did. As you have seen, I pushed at the beginning. I did overtaking maneuvers, I enjoyed it, and once everyone had their pace we weren’t in the right place.
“But I know that three or four laps were critical there when the others drove at a depth of 1:40 minutes, which wasn’t my pace.
“I said, ‘Okay, if I can do these three laps, I can do the whole race on it.’
“But in these three laps I take too much risk and what happened was easy. I was behind Alex [Espargaro], I lost a lot when accelerating in T2, from Turn 3, Turn 4, then I lose something in Turn 5 and then I lose some acceleration in Turn 9.
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He added: “Then I tried to relax on the brakes.” [at Turn 10]. I didn’t make a massive braking point because [Maverick] Vinales was behind me and he braked even later than me, but he could stop and I couldn’t stop.
“I locked the front and crashed. But of course I’m not happy with the result, but I’m happy with the way I did those seven laps.
“I’d rather do a good seven laps than just finish the race and stay on the bike.”