Marini prepared to ‘make some mistakes’ to finish ‘more in front’

While Luca Marini has failed to reach the heights of fellow MotoGP rookies Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini so far in 2021, the Italian is only one of two riders to finish every race this year.  

Marini, who has one top ten finish which came at the AustrianGP in extreme conditions, has along with championship leader Fabio Quartararo completed every race this season, which for a rookie is an impressive achievement. 

However, with fellow rookies Martin and Bastianini both securing podiums throughout the year - in Martin’s case wins and pole positions too, the consistency shown by Marini has somewhat gone unnoticed. 

The Italian himself would ‘prefer’ to trade some of his consistent race finishes for, let’s say flashier results, even if that means ‘making some mistakes’ to do so. 

Asked about his rookie season and if he’s content with it, Marini added: "For sure I would like to be a bit more forward, especially about the results in the races. 

"But anyway, I’m quite happy about the overall season and I finished all the races. I would prefer to stay more in front and then maybe sometimes make some mistakes, but with this I’m able to understand how the tyres drop a lot during the race, and it’s great to understand about my body; which areas I have to work more on."

With Marini on a two year-old machine compared to factory riders Francesco Bagnaia, Jack Miller and both Pramac men, the former Moto2 runner-up has not had the luxury of riding the much friendlier and less physical Desmocedici GP-21 bike, which is why the physicality of his 2019 machine has been an issue. 

"With the Ducati I’m struggling a little bit in the physical area. We have worked a lot on the ergonomics of the bike and also tried to have a less physical bike," added Marini. 

"I’m quite happy now about the level that I am at compared to the start of the season. 

"I have much more confidence and I’m feeling better, but we need to make some more improvements in these last few races because I would like to stay in the top ten."