How Marquez's Austrian GP was derailed half an hour before the start

Marc Marquez has explained his “unlucky” start to MotoGP’s Austrian Grand Prix, with a broken tyre valve and front ride height device woes, followed by contact at Turn 1, causing him to plummet from third on the grid to 13th after the first corner.

The Gresini Ducati rider’s start to Sunday’s race took a turn for the worse before he had even set off on the warm-up lap, with his mechanics discovering a broken tyre valve while checking the pressures before the start.

They were caught on camera dashing to Michelin to switch its rim, which was quickly fixed, but Marquez said by directing his focus during the warm-up lap to adding temperature to that cool tyre, he inadvertently disengaged his front ride height device.

This left him slow off the line, dropping positions and making contact into Turn 1 with Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli, though both riders escaped unscathed.

Despite dropping to 13th, Marquez quickly cut his way back through the field, repeatedly diving up the inside of the chicane to gain positions and finish the race in fourth, behind only Pecco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini.

“Today we were unlucky,” Marquez summarised.

“Thirty minutes before the start, when the mechanics go to check the tyre pressure, the valve broke. Then, as you see in the image, they were running to Michelin to change it from that tyre to another rim.

“But during that procedure that was super good and they did a very good job, but the tyre temperature drops a lot. Then, that chaos created everything.

“On the sighting lap I was concentrating to put more temperature on the front tyre, then on the last straight I braked and I engaged well the first device, but then I braked again and it disengaged.

“Then I didn’t have enough speed, so without that front device it was difficult to start well.

“I was super calm in the first corner and said I would brake early to not exaggerate and let’s see, and then I receive a big contact from the left side and then we went wide. 

“From 13th place, we start step-by-step.”

Morbidelli was dropped from eighth to 17th by the Turn 1 incident, but said it was an “unfortunate episode.”

“Marc had a different speed because he didn’t engage the front device, so when I went to brake, he went on the left maybe to avoid Jack [Miller], and we got tangled,” he added after recovering to eighth.

Despite struggling with his front ride height device, Marquez insisted a ban should not be implemented “because I did a mistake, for everybody it is the same” but welcomed the upcoming change to the regulations from 2027 as “a solution”.

Sunday’s issues for Marquez came after he crashed out of Saturday’s sprint race while running second after a penalty for Martin.

Despite failing to score on Saturday and missing out on the podium on Sunday, Marquez said the Red Bull Ring weekend was “one of the best” he has had so far with Gresini.

“In Barcelona we finished second and second in the sprint race but it was one of the worst weekends for us,” he said. 

“This weekend, it was one of the best - the feeling on the bike, the speed in practice, in warm up, in qualifying practice - but we were out with zero points yesterday and fourth place today. 

“But I enjoyed a lot this weekend and it’s there.”

Asked about his hunger for victory given the ever-growing time since his last win, he continued: “For me, it doesn’t matter. I know this year is a year to build and I’m building, I’m trying to build that confidence, to go step-by-step. 

“It is true that we start so good and it looks like we do a step back and now it looks like we come back.

“The second part of the season, we need to keep building, try to be on the podium and the victory, if it’s not this year, next year it will arrive.”