Alex Marquez “didn't understand what happened with Marc”, “my mistake” with Diggia

Alex Marquez's impressive streak of seven runner-up finishes came to an end in a messy Qatar MotoGP, where the Gresini rider was involved in two early-race clashes.

The first was with none other than brother Marc, but the costliest occurred with Fabio di Giannantonio, resulting in a long lap penalty.

Alex tangled with race leader Marc on the exit of Turn 1 and was initially confused about why he ran into the side of the Ducati Lenovo bike.

“I did a really good start, but I just didn't understand what happened with Marc in the first corner, because he had already opened the gas,” Alex said.

“I saw also that Franco was overtaking on the outside. So I was said ‘OK, we go’ and then I felt that small contact.

“But when I spoke with Marc [after] he said he closed the gas because he had a moment, losing a bit the rear. But nothing happened in the contact.”

But it was the incident with di Giannantonio that carried far more serious consequences. After being passed at Turn 10, Alex tried to immediately retaliate.

“I tried to attack [back] on Turn 12 but it was not the moment, not the place. I completely made a mistake in that point. I want to say sorry to him and his team,” he admitted. “It was a long lap, which I accept. It's fair.”

“Speed there even with half wings”

After serving the penalty, Marquez dropped to 12th but battled back to seventh at the flag, which became sixth due to Maverick Vinales’ tyre penalty.

“The bike was a little bit damaged on the aerodynamic side, but I was able also to make a good speed. It's my mistake and we need to learn for the future.”

Marquez set the fifth fastest lap of the race and found an unlikely advantage in the damage: “I was overtaking everybody [out of the final corner], the bike in that moment was like flying!

“It's true that in some brake points and in some fast corners, the feeling was not really right, but I did 1'52.8 [on lap 15 of 22] so the bike was not bad.

“The speed was there even with half wings and that’s what we need to take to Jerez.”

Alex, who had been leading the world championship heading into Qatar, returns to Europe 17 points behind Marc and 9 ahead of Francesco Bagnaia.