Martin furious: “Not the first time - Marquez keeps doing things…”
Marquez crashed into the back of Miguel Oliveira on the third lap at Portimao, ruining both of their races when he lost control under braking, but he also made contact with Martin within the same incident.
Pramac Racing rider Martin battled on with damage to his foot and ankle but eventually crashed out of the race.
Martin recalled Silverstone 2021 when Marquez crashed into him, and said: “It’s not the first time he has destroyed my race. Maybe in the future he can manage to avoid me. Or Race Direction can do something.
“I have never destroyed a race for him, or injured him.
“It’s already the second time. I hope he can improve.”
Marquez accepted blame for the incident in Portimao with Oliveira and Martin, but Aleix Espargaro called for him to face a one-race ban.
He was instead punished with a double long lap penalty to be served at next weekend’s Argentina MotoGP, but he will now miss that race entirely after undergoing surgery on a hand injury sustained in the Portimao crash.
Martin insists that Marquez warrants a more severe punishment: “I don’t know. I don’t need to check on this. In the briefing they say: ‘If you keep doing things, you will get a stronger penalty’.
“He keeps doing things, no? He needs a stronger penalty.
“But we know it’s Marc and they will do nothing.”
Martin assessed the manner of the incident: “Already on the first lap he was too enthusiastic because he lost the front. I was in first position, I had to pick up the bike so I didn’t crash.
“Then, we had a small impact but I was in front so I couldn’t see.
“The second time, I received a big impact. I tried to avoid the crash. He was too enthusiastic, for the second time in a row.
“I don’t know. You need to understand when you have riders in front of you. You need to manage your braking. For sure, you can’t brake as if you’re alone.
“It’s the same for all the riders. He needs to improve this.”
Martin revealed that, despite a broken toe and an ankle injury, he expects to be fit to race in Argentina next weekend.
Before the key incident involving Oliveira, Martin and Marquez made earlier contact on the first lap. Martin recalled: “The first impact, I went half-a-lap without my right foot on the foot peg. I couldn’t [put my foot down].
“Eight or nine riders overtook me, I had to recover.
“It’s difficult because I had pace for the victory. We were close, without the impact.
“After the impact, he moved my handlebar so I was riding in a difficult way. Even though I managed to do a ‘38.9, ‘39.0, I was fast, competitive.
“To beat Francesco Bagnaia was the target. He had half-a-tenth more. Being behind, I thought I could take out that tenth. I thought I was stronger than [Saturday].
“I’m happy with my performance, I was super-competitive. Pecco is the man to beat. I will focus on myself.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
