Marc Marquez’s "honest" verdict on Qatar MotoGP battles: “Depends on strategy..."

Marc Marquez staged a masterclass in strategy to win Sunday’s Qatar MotoGP, twice fighting back from third during the season’s most entertaining race - all thanks to tyre management.

The need to save rubber meant, rather than breaking clear and managing his advantage, the #93 didn’t show his cards until the closing stages.

And when he did, there was no doubt who the winner would be.

Marquez set his fastest lap of the race on lap 19 of 22, while nearest rivals Maverick Vinales and Francesco Bagnaia had peaked on laps 6 and 12 respectively.

“I’ll speak honest. It depends on the strategy of the fastest rider on the track,” Marquez said about the Qatar spectacle.

“If the fastest rider stops the race, then we have a big group. If it’s like yesterday in the sprint race when I was pushing from the beginning, then the distance [between riders] is bigger.

“So today I slowed down in the first laps and I had a big group behind, but it was my strategy.

“Today I was calm because during the weekend – it was unexpected for me because we cannot forget that we are in Qatar - but I was the fastest out there.”

Pecco Bagnaia: “This causes more fights”

Bagnaia, who rode from eleventh to the podium and was later promoted to second by a tyre-pressure penalty for Vinales, agreed that tyre wear was the main factor.

“It depends on the type of circuit, because there are circuits where you need to control the tyres. This is one of them,” Bagnaia said.

“You can’t push like you want from the start to the finish. Managing the tyres also means more fights, because the riders maybe from behind are pushing more to be leading.

“This causes more fights. I think it’s more for that reason. It’s just for the type of grip and circuit.”