Marc Marquez: Aleix Espargaro contact in Styrian MotoGP ‘just racing’
Honda’s Marc Marquez has responded to criticism from Aleix Espargaro following two collisions in Sunday’s MotoGP Styrian Grand Prix, but accepts blame for one incident.


Marquez made heavy contact with Aprilia’s Espargaro at Turn 1 on the opening lap of the red-flagged Styrian GP on Sunday, which left the latter utterly furious on track.
In the second start, the pair made contact again at Turn 1, though on this occasion Marquez was forced into the side of the Aprilia rider after Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo carved up the inside of the pair of them.
Espargaro dropped down the order to 16th after that contact and eventually retired with an engine issue.
He expressed anger at the race stewards for not handing out a penalty to Marquez, but the Honda rider doesn’t believe the collisions were over the limit and feels the blame is 50/50 across the incidents.
“We know Aleix,” Marquez said when asked by Autosport if Espargaro’s comments were an overreaction. “If I need to complain about all the contacts, what can I do?
“In Holland he touched me in the last chicane and I nearly crashed and I never complained.
“Here, also in the first race I had big contact, [Joan] Mir tried to overtake me and I had big contact, he touched me and I didn’t complain.
“I mean, this is racing. And then it’s true – and always I try to speak honestly – in the first race, if somebody made a mistake it was me because he went a little bit wide and I go in because in that corner if you just have a doubt it’s easy that somebody can come and make up a lot of positions.
“So, I go in, I didn’t expect to have such a big contact but it was there.
“And in the second one, it was his mistake.
“I started better than him, I was in a very good position, in the brake point I was parallel with him.
“But he released the brakes and went in, but Quartararo was inside and we had contact. But first race my mistake, second race his mistake.”

Marc Marquez, Repsol Honda Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Marquez ran inside the leading group in the first race before the red flag, but struggled immediately at the restart with grip having changed tyres and could no better than eighth.
“Definitely in the first race, the potential and the performance was very high, I felt very good,” he added. “All weekend my pace was 1m24s middle, 1m24s low. I mean, the first race I was riding in a very good way, very comfortable.
“But in the second race, already on the out-lap and the first lap I realised that something was not in a correct way.
Read Also:
“The bike was the same, we only changed the tyres from race one to race two, and in race two from the out-lap the grip was zero and I struggled all the race with rear grip, even stopping and exiting the corner.
“It’s true the only change was the tyres but we can’t complain only about the tyres, we must understand because everybody has the same compounds, same tyres.
“But it’s true from one tyre to the other one we can lose some performance. Maybe that was the main reason today.”
Related video

Pedrosa “very lucky” in fiery Styrian MotoGP crash
The Suzuki upgrade that made Mir’s Styria MotoGP victory battle possible

Latest news
Kubica out of F1 as Orlen moves to AlphaTauri and Alfa Romeo lands new sponsor
Former Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team title sponsor Orlen has switched to AlphaTauri in a move that could spell the end of Robert Kubica’s career in grand prix racing.
Vasseur "convinced" Ferrari has everything it needs to win F1 title
New Ferrari Formula 1 boss Fred Vasseur is “convinced” the team has everything it needs to win the championship, and that targeting anything less would be a “lack of ambition.”
Daytona 24: Porsche leads Acura in night practice
Matt Campbell put the #7 Penske Porsche on top in third practice for the Daytona 24 Hours, just 0.172s ahead of Filipe Albuquerque in the Wayne Taylor Racing Acura.
Daytona 24: Westbrook’s Ganassi Cadillac tops second practice
Richard Westbrook ensured Cadillac’s new V-LMDh snagged top spot in second practice for the Daytona 24 Hours, ahead of the #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Andretti Autosport Acura.
The other Suzuki signing that could transform Honda's MotoGP form
Following Suzuki's decision to quit MotoGP, both of its former riders have landed at Honda for 2023. But perhaps its biggest signing from the now-defunct team could instead be a highly-rated technical manager. Is Ken Kawauchi the right man at the right time to steer HRC back to glory?
How the MotoGP paddock has offered refuge to Suzuki's former team
Suzuki's unexpected departure left more than 40 professionals virtually jobless for the 2023 MotoGP season. But that human drama has been successfully corrected by the paddock itself, with most former Suzuki crew-members absorbed into other operations
How one MotoGP team went from title fights to losing it all in four years
The Petronas Sepang Racing Team came into MotoGP with a bang in 2019 as regular front-runners, with wonder rookie Fabio Quartararo mounting a title challenge in 2020. But it all went wrong for the Razlan Razali-helmed squad as the team changed hands and tumbled down the order - and RNF Racing plans to right this in 2023
Is MotoGP's comeback king ready to reclaim his throne?
Marc Marquez’s sixth premier MotoGP title seems a long time ago given the injury woes he has faced in the three years since. At the end of a fraught 2022, in which he had a fourth major operation on his right arm, the Spaniard speaks exclusively to Autosport
How MotoGP’s underachiever is working to reverse its fortunes in 2023
As European manufacturers emerged as the strongest force in 2022 in a changing of the guard for MotoGP, one powerhouse couldn’t quite match the feats of Ducati and Aprilia. Its motorsport chief tells Autosport why this is and what it is doing to become a consistent frontrunner in the class of kings
How MotoGP riders are preparing for the physical stress of sprint races
With the expansion of the calendar to 21 grands prix and the introduction of sprint races, the 2023 MotoGP season will take the riders to almost 1,300 kilometres of competition more than this year, a factor that forces adjustments in their physical preparations.
The Ducati rider who is much more than just the brother of a MotoGP legend
Surname pressure is something many have had to deal with in their motorsport careers. And while Luca Marini doesn’t have that, his familial relation and the team he rides for in MotoGP have cast a brighter spotlight on his progress. But, as he has shown in 2022 – and as he reveals to Autosport – Marini is so much more than just the brother of a legend
Ranking the top 10 riders of MotoGP 2022
The 2022 MotoGP season was another hotly contested championship, with Francesco Bagnaia emerging as the title winner after the campaign went to the wire. Autosport picks out the 10 best performers of the season
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.