Marc Marquez: 'When I attacked, I crashed. Thanks to the air fence I’m here'
Marc Marquez doesn't do things by halves and while doctors no doubt hoped the first accident since breaking his right-arm would be a gentle tip off, it was instead a 180km/h lowside that sent him hurtling across a gravel trap and into an airfence.
As Marquez lay on the ground with a broken RC213V next to him at the end of FP3 at Jerez, the same circuit where the eight-time world champion's original fractures occurred last July, it seemed a very real possibility he could be back to square one with an injury that has already required three operations.
Fortunately, although shaken, the Repsol Honda rider was eventually able to walk away and returned to the paddock on the back of a scooter before heading for the medical centre.
"We knew sooner or later the first crash would arrive, but I chose one of the worst points of the circuit," Marquez said.
Fortunately @marcmarquez93 walked away from THIS!
— MotoGP (@MotoGP) May 1, 2021
The Spaniard suffered a high speed crash at Turn 7 in FP3! #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/kN1eBmft8C
"I didn’t expect it, but if you push for a lap you don’t think about the risk. Yesterday I was more conservative. Today I attacked. Unfortunately, when I attacked, I crashed.
"It was a big crash, especially the impact against the air fence was at high-speed, but thanks to the air fence I’m here."
While the right arm had not taken the brunt of the impact and scans at the medical centre didn't detect any other injuries, Marquez began to feel unwell after returning to his motorhome.
"I went to the medical centre, where they checked everything and I felt ok in that moment," Marquez explained. "Then I went to my motorhome but when I arrived in the truck, and I sit and I was there for ten minutes, I started to not know exactly where I was, to lose a little bit the head.
"Immediately I called the doctor, just to be more safe and he said okay we must check at the [local] hospital. When I arrived in the hospital, I already felt well again. But they checked everything, made a CT and these things. Also when I arrived here in the circuit they re-checked everything."
While his right arm was not a concern, Marquez said that he underwent an x-ray just to be sure.
"The checks [in hospital] were more for the head, the neck and the back. What I suffered in the impact," he explained.
"Today the arm was not injured, I didn’t feel any pain. But [MotoGP's] Dr Charte has all the information about my arm and when I went to the hospital he asked for another x-ray on the arm just to be sure.
"Also, I want to clarify that I’m here, I’m riding and I’m pushing because what the doctors said to me is in case of an impact there is the same possibility to break my left or right arm. So the bone [on my right arm] is completely fixed."
After accelerating out of the Turn 6 (Pedrosa) hairpin, Marquez fell when he lost the front of his Honda as he tipped into the Turn 7 left-hander. Team-mate Pol Espargaro then suffered an identical accident at the same place in the afternoon.
Espargaro, like many riders, felt that Turn 7 is one of several corners at the Jerez circuit now in urgent need of a bigger run-off area.
"The wall is too close for sure," Espargaro said. "OK, we have this air fence technology, but the bike is coming also. When you hit [the air fence] and stop – as Marc did – then the bike can arrive at the same speed as you [and hit you]."
Soft tyre mistake
In an attempt to mitigate the risk of another fast front-end fall, Marquez switched to the soft tyre for the following sessions but it proved to be a mistake. He was unable to advance past Qualifying 1, leaving him 14th on the grid for the second race of his MotoGP comeback.
"In FP4 I rode in a good way, but the crash affected me in qualifying," he said.
"Because of the crash I chose the soft front tyre, thinking I’ll feel safer in the fast corners. But we did a mistake and I had moments in the afternoon because I was not stopping the bike, I was not turning.
"If you think now, you ask, 'why put the soft front tyre, you are always using the hard?'
"I chose the soft front tyre because I was thinking more about the crash of this morning than performance this afternoon.
"In qualifying, I immediately saw the limit was the front tyre, but when I stopped there was no time to change.
"It’s a shame because I feel strong this weekend and today was the first time I started to feel I was riding in a good way.
"Yesterday I didn’t ride in the limit so we couldn’t set up the bike well. Today was the first day I started to feel where the problems are. Now for tomorrow we’ll do some changes straight away.
"We’ll start adapting the set up to my style because we are using a completely different bike set up here compared to last year. Even a different chassis. Why, when last year I was fast here? The main reason is its less physical, this bike that I’m riding now. It’s what I need now to finish the race in a good way.
"But still I’m missing a lot, especially the way to turn the bike and play with the rear tyre. And then I force too much the front.
"So we need to understand the way to play with the rear tyre because it's one of my strong points to pick up the bike and slide – but now I am not able to do it. That’s there where we are working more."
LCR's Takaaki Nakagami, who has switched back to the 2020 chassis, qualified as the top Honda in fifth.
Marquez qualified sixth and finished seventh during his MotoGP comeback two weeks' ago in Portimao.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
