How Alex Marquez turned his tough Friday into a ‘nearly perfect’ Sunday

Alex Marquez says he rode “nearly the perfect race” on his way to victory in a tough Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

Not only did the long Sunday race take place in the hottest, sunniest conditions of the weekend, it was also tricky in terms of tyres. The entire field had to manage the soft rear tyre throughout the race, and there was a mix of approaches between the soft and medium front.

Marquez had a slow start to the weekend, crashing twice on Friday, conceding that he had been over-confident on a circuit he loves. But the Gresini Ducati man worked his way up to speed, sealing second place in the world championship with the runner-up spot in the Saturday sprint.

“It’s true that I made a mistake this weekend, you know, expecting things to be too easy. [We made it into] Q2 in ninth place, and a little bit on the limit. So, it was quite complicated.

“The conditions, and especially the feeling with the bike, changed quite a lot compared to the February [test] here. The tarmac, the condition of the track was really different. Step by step, over the weekend, we turned things around in quite a good way.

“Yesterday, you know, as I said already in the press, I didn’t ride freely on the bike. I was thinking too much [about] that second place in the championship and not attacking Pecco [Bagnaia] at the moment that I should have done. So, today the plan was clear.”

Alex Marquez made sure to clear his rivals early

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

That plan proved to be the correct one – particularly in terms of choosing the soft front tyre. Bagnaia opted for the medium, and like most on that compound, he regretted it as the race unfolded.

Marquez was third into the first corner, behind Bagnaia and Pedro Acosta, but hit the front on the second lap.

“We improved a little bit the feeling in the warm-up. And [in the race] I was clever with the plan to attack Pedro on the first lap, Pecco on the second and then just try to manage the tyre until the end. So, it was nearly the perfect race.

“It was the plan to not exaggerate, you know, to not over-ride on the rhythm, because later on you can pay off here with the rear tyre. So, I just tried to be really soft with the gas.

“The front tyre was also difficult to control… but as I said… we did things in the correct way.”