Zarco distracted by battle for the lead and nearly crashed - “I was very scared”

The Pramac rider inherited third spot after Brad Binder crashed out ahead of him at turn eight, however, Zarco nearly committed the same mistake at turn one on the final lap of the race.

While his lead over Marco Bezzecchi was a comfortable one, Zarco was still pushing in order to control the gap.

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But when starting the final lap, Zarco saw the leading duo of Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia fighting, before thinking one of them had crashed, which led to a momentary lapse in concentration. 

"I wanted to keep the gap with Bezzecchi and the gap was done," Zarco told MotoGP.com. "But then, when I braked in the first corner I saw something and thought the top two guys were fighting together and maybe one of them crashed. 

"In the moment I thought about that I nearly crashed myself. I was very scared."

In terms of his race result, Zarco stood on the podium for the third consecutive Grand Prix which saw him move up to fourth in the championship. 

His third consecutive P3 finish was made possible after showing great speed through the race, but also because of his brave overtakes at turn 11.

Zarco said: "Pretty happy, yes. This time I could get a good start and the bike worked pretty well from the beginning of the race. 

"I could see immediately that my pace could be quite good and I could use good grip from the rear tyre. 

"But Bezzecchi was strong in braking so I could not find the space to overtake, and then, Aleix arrived with the soft rear tyre and really tried to use the potential of this soft rear tyre. 

"When he overtook the other riders I said okay, ‘I have to push myself immediately to find a good pace’. After the first lap I got this good pace and tried to fight, make nice overtakes. 

"Marini and Binder were going quite fast but I could make the effort to go with them. Then, Marini started to drop with the rear tyre, so I was alone with Brad but also trying to control my rear tyre and think about the end of the race. 

"He did this mistake in turn eight which meant I was alone in third position. Bezzecchi was pushing and I had to keep pushing to keep a gap with him. 

"1.5 seconds is a good gap but it can disappear in a quick moment. On the last lap I did a little mistake but I had enough of a gap to enjoy this podium." 

With regards to Binder’s fall, Zarco had the perfect view as he was within half a second of the KTM rider.

Binder was too hot into turn eight which saw him slide towards the edge of the circuit before hitting the ground hard.

"I was behind him and I could see that he was going quite fast into the corner, but this is the style," said Zarco. "You cannot use a good drive on the exit of turn eight in the race so you try to compensate with a good entry. 

"I think he sliding with the rear and then closed a bit the front and went wide. When you go slightly off line in turn eight you are immediately too wide. 

"He tried to control it but did a big slide. From behind everything looked like it was quite slow but it was very fast."