ALEX MARQUEZ SAYS DUCATI BIKE FELT DIFFERENT AT AUSTRIAN GP AFTER EARLY CRASH

Alex Marquez described a difficult Austrian Grand Prix for Ducati as a weekend where the bike “was not the one we know”, after his race ended in a crash at the Red Bull Ring.

Ducati had entered the Austrian round with a strong recent record at the circuit. Since the track joined the MotoGP calendar in 2016, the factory had only been beaten there twice before this year, with the previous defeat coming in the mixed conditions of the 2021 Styrian Grand Prix. This time, however, Ducati failed to place a rider on the podium—something Marquez said surprised him.

He felt the race result matched what they had been seeing across the weekend. “I mean, quite surprised to suffer like this here,” Marquez said after the race. “But from the FP1, we were seeing what happened. Something really strange.”

According to Marquez, the problem was not just pace or setup, but the behaviour of the machine itself. “The bike was not like the one that we know. It changed a lot with the casing – also happened to us this in Thailand.” He added that the rear tyre grip they were getting was not usable in the way they needed: “We can't use the grip from this rear tyre, and we lose a lot in that part – in traction part especially.”

Marquez also pointed to a likely continuation of the issue beyond Austria. He said a similar rear tyre construction will be used at the Indonesian Grand Prix in October, and suggested that could create comparable challenges for Ducati. “It's similar,” he said. “And there the grip level from the layout also is higher than here. So, it will be like this.”

Looking at the wider outcome in Austria, Marquez noted that three Aprilias and KTM’s Pedro Acosta took the podium places, with Aprilia’s Jorge Martin winning the Sprint and the race going to Martin, Marco Bezzecchi and Ai Ogura, while Acosta won for the first time. Marquez said the lack of Ducati on the podium was the first time that had happened since 2016.

His own race ended early when he crashed at turn 2a while being passed by Raul Fernandez. Marquez said he lost positions in the opening lap and then struggled to find the right attacking rhythm. “I lost a lot of positions in the first lap,” he said. “The start was not bad, but later on I did not attack in the first corner enough.”

He explained that he continued battling through the middle of the race, but the situation worsened as he faced multiple temperature warnings on the dashboard. “I had the alarm of hot brakes, hot engine, everything,” Marquez said. “But I say ‘Okay, I try, I'm 14th, 13th, so I will not lose a lot if I crash’.”

In the moment that led to the crash, he described being in a parallel fight with Fernandez and losing the front after moving into a “dirty zone”. “So in that moment I start to go, and then in a fight with Raul [Fernandez]. We were in parallel, I was a little bit on the dirty zone, and then I lose the front,” he said.

Marquez also apologised to his Gresini team for the mistakes he felt he made across the weekend. “Just sorry to the team because I did too many mistakes during this weekend,” he said. “And I was not able to over-ride on the problems that we had on the Ducati. So, I didn't help for that problem, and to have less problems at that point.”

On the temperature alarms specifically, he added that the warnings made braking and stopping the bike harder, changing the feel of the ride. “It's more difficult to brake, stop the bike, so you use more brake, and then everything is like a roll that never stops.”

Despite the setback, Marquez suggested there is still reason to be optimistic for Indonesia, referencing how last year’s race had gone for him and for the Aprilia threat level. “Last year, Fermin [Aldeguer] won, I was in the podium, so hopeful to be good there and to struggle less,” he said. “But there, the Aprilia last year already we were flying with Bezzecchi especially. So, it will be difficult, but we'll try our best, and for sure Ducati will work a lot.”