Jack Miller and Johann Zarco have both blamed Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro for halting their charges during today’s German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring circuit, after the Spaniard slowed the pace in second place as rain threatened, allowing runaway race winner Marc Marqurez to escape his pursuers.
Espargaro was sitting second to Marquez when the rain flags came out – and the Repsol Honda rider immediately capitalised by launching a blistering attack that allowed him to break from the chasing group.
But while Espargaro didn’t push on to chase down Marquez around the notoriously single-line circuit that offers limited passing opportunities, Pramac Ducati man Zarco said that he was left with little to do but watch the former world champion escape out in front.
“A key point in the race was to overtake Aleix Espargaro,” he admitted. “When Marc began to go away with a bit of rain, he took the advantage. I really tried to overtake Aleix, but I lost some time there. In the second half of the race, things were pretty difficult, and the rear tyre on the left was dropping a lot.”
Ducati rider Miller was even more damning in his take, fully laying the blame at Espargaro’s feet after losing out on the chance to attack and ending up sixth at the chequered flag, two places ahead of Zarco’s eventual finishing positon.
“I feel like I rode a smart race and didn’t make any mistakes,” said the Australian after the race. “I was there the whole time, but today was just not our day.
“It was the day of Marc Marquez and he did a fantastic job. He managed the race really well and that’s why he’s a multiple times world champion.
“He saw the spots of rain, and boom, he was able to put a big gap into everyone else because we got held up by someone who wasn’t willing to push in those conditions.”
For his part, though, Espargaro held his hands up, conceding that he simply didn’t have the same mid-corner grip as those around him in order to maintain the Honda rider’s pace.
“I won’t say we were unlucky today because it was the same for everyone,” said a frustrated Espargaro, “but when the rain started I wasn’t as brave as him. I had a big moment in Turn 8 where I almost crashed but saved it, and then I decided to slow down the pace a little bit, and I lost a lot of my options there.
“In the end the problem is that I was risking a lot on the brakes but I don’t have the traction. I don’t know what happened but it was crazy – I couldn’t follow them because they had so much more traction than me in the middle of the corners. I risked everywhere trying to recover, but it’s always on the limit.”
Going into the race expecting to be in podium contention, Espargaro was left frustrated with the eventual seventh place.
And he says that while this weekend’s front-row start might have shown just how impressive the Aprilia climb has been, there’s still a way to go yet.
“I’m a little bit angry today because I’m trying everything,” he admitted. “I’m a little bit happy, because at the end of the race I could touch Fabio [Quartararo] with my hand, who was on the last step of the podium. But it is not enough.
“I want to fight for the podium but the reality is that we are not ready. We can dream about it, we can speak about it, but we still need more. I’m disappointed because I was expecting a much better position than seventh place.”
