Alex Marquez: Still Physically Limited After MotoGP Summer Break

Alex Marquez has admitted that his physical issues have not fully disappeared over the MotoGP summer break. The Gresini Racing rider still feels the limitations from his huge crash at the Catalan MotoGP in May.

That crash left him with a fractured vertebra, and he only returned to racing at the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of June. Despite a four-week break, Marquez found himself low on energy by the end of Friday at the British Grand Prix, which he believes cost him a better result than seventh in Practice.

“I didn't try many things,” Alex Marquez said after Practice at Silverstone. “Just this afternoon, for me one hour is too long. I arrived a little bit like [at the limit] with the force. I was too tired in the afternoon.”

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He also explained his tyre strategy: “It's true that I focused a lot with the medium rear. Everybody tried the medium and then the soft, or opposite [order], and I arrived a little bit in that point with no information and not knowing [...] where I need to go more aggressive or not. But it was fine. Everything is quite close.”

Marquez acknowledged that the Aprilias are flying at Silverstone, but he feels they are not far off. “We are not far. Small problems, but I think that tomorrow if we can solve it, we can make a good step forward, and on race pace we are not bad, so this is the good thing,” he said.

On podium chances, Marquez is waiting for qualifying. “After the quali we will know if we have chances or not. But it looks like the Aprilias here have rhythm and also time attack, so it will be difficult to compete with them. But we need to strike the maximum potential because I think we have race pace in a good way, similar to them. But, you know if you are P7 in quali, then it will be difficult,” he explained.

On the physical side, the Spanish rider admitted he expected to feel better at Silverstone. “I was expecting to be better, but it's true that it's a track that is quite demanding on the physical side. For that reason, this afternoon, one hour [...] I arrived in the end a little bit too on the limit, but not big problems. It's true that today in the morning I felt a little bit pain and not one hundred per cent. But it will be a big process, the crash was big and I will need some more time.”

He added that after the British GP there is another three-week break to recover. “Maybe it's a pain or it's a limitation that I will need to [know] how to live with them, with that pain. So maybe just my life changed a little bit, but for the rest I'm feeling good,” he concluded.