Marc Marquez’s crew chief explains Australia tactics and psychological battle

Frankie Carchedi has explained the mind-set which enabled Marc Marquez to win the Australian MotoGP.

The Gresini Ducati rider took a hugely impressive victory at Phillip Island, certainly his best yet since leaving Honda.

Marquez fell to 13th on the first lap after a bad start caused by his visor tear-off falling beneath his own bike, but fought back to edge Jorge Martin.

Crew chief Carchedi told TNT Sports: “The plan was just to sit behind Jorge, save the tyres as much as possible, and have a go at the end.

“The first lap made a big difference. As soon as he got behind Pecco… at Turn 3 we could see he was riding in a different way to the start of the weekend.

“In the last three or four laps, he did the corners in a completely different way.”

Pramac’s Martin still leads the MotoGP championship, despite missing out on winning at Phillip Island due to Marquez’s overtake.

Carchedi was asked if they expected Martin to settle for P2 because it consolidated his own title advantage.

“We thought that. When Marc went past the first time we thought ‘perfect, hopefully [Martin] will be thinking of the championship’,” Carchedi said.

“But he didn’t! He was pushing until the end.

“You see it in the wet, that riders back off a bit… then crash. His mentality was to push until the end.”

Martin did not desperately lunge at Marquez in the closing stages in a last-gasp attempt to win the Australian MotoGP.

However, rather than his own caution due to leading the championship, Carchedi believes it was Marquez who dissuaded Martin.

“From our point, we are strong out of the last corner,” Carchedi said.

“The question mark was: were we able to hold the gap to the first corner?

“The first time he did it, [Martin] thought: ‘I need to adapt and think of somewhere else’.

“There has been great video footage of Marc this weekend at Turn 3. It looks spectacular but he is very fast, as well.

“He knew the best opportunity was at Turn 4.”

Marquez is 79 points behind championship leader Martin after Phillip Island, with three rounds remaining this season.

The title this year might still be out of reach but Marquez’s brilliant ride in Australia is an ominous warning for 2025 when he will have the latest-spec Ducati machinery.