Marc Marquez says he has no qualms about fixating on MotoGP title hopeful Francesco Bagnaia as a target to follow in what is a pivotal Malaysian Grand Prix weekend for the latter.
Marquez selected Bagnaia to grab a tow off in both third practice and the two qualifying segments, although ultimately any sort of slipstream proved irrelevant to his result.
DOWN AGAIN! 💥
On course for the first 1:57, @PeccoBagnaia has dropped it! 🤯@FabioQ20 has a HUGE chance to capitalise! 🚨#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/UqbG8vo8Q7
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 22, 2022
The lap that got him out of Q1 was done mostly in clean air, while in Q2 Bagnaia crashed, leaving Marquez to push again by himself – which he did to secure a spot on the front row.
But Marquez – who has made finding a tow basically an ever-present part of his repertoire particularly since his 2020 injury – has maintained through the weekend, and again after qualifying, that he was not feeling comfortable at “not one of my favourite circuits” Sepang and that “all Hondas [are] struggling a lot and as we see I’m fighting against the bike”.
After qualifying, Marquez was queried by Italian media over whether it would be more sportsmanlike to use another, non-title contending Ducati rider as a reference point so as not to interfere with the title battle.
Bagnaia has indeed not been the only fast Ducati rider in MotoGP this weekend, and perhaps not even the fastest one over one lap, given that Jorge Martin – who was a favoured tow target of Aleix Espargaro’s on Saturday – dominated FP3 and then smashed the lap record to claim pole.
Yet it was not a line of thinking Marquez was particularly interested in.
“In my point of view, when I was fighting for championships, the riders didn’t care,” he stressed. “One thing is that if you disturb like [Franco] Morbidelli did in FP3, then in that case you need to be attentive [Morbidelli having baulked both Bagnaia and the Bagnaia-following Marquez by being slow on the racing line].
Yikes! That was close! 😮#MalaysianGP 🇲🇾 pic.twitter.com/hZZLUY0nU3
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 22, 2022
“But if you are behind, if you are not super-super close, you are not disturbing.
“If you are fighting for the championship, you have clever ideas and then you’re just pushing for the lap in a single lap, and you have the free track, doesn’t matter. And I was not the only one behind.
“Normally when Bagnaia goes out there are many riders behind. But it’s true that the Repsol colours are more shiny.”
Marquez’s point that he wasn’t alone in hitching a ride with Bagnaia was accurate, with as many as six riders – among them Bagnaia’s team-mate Jack Miller – in his tow on the early run of Q1.
As to why Honda was struggling and why Marquez felt he’d needed a tow, he said: “Maybe it’s the engine in combination with the aero, in combination with the exit of the corner, the way of getting traction – but we are losing. We counted and we are losing all that time [he was 0.664s off pole] in those two points.
“In the short straights in the middle of the circuit that are not [really] short straights, because here in Malaysia from Turns 7-8 to Turn 9 it looks a short straight but it’s a long one, when you are following somebody for a single lap it’s important because you gain a lot.
“But it’s true that then you need to manage a lot on the way to stop the bike on the straight lines because it’s stopping less. So it’s some positives and some negatives.
“For example, on the corners I’m feeling better alone. But what I gain on the straights I cannot gain on the corners alone. For that reason I try to find the best compromise.”
Bagnaia had previously made it clear he wasn’t perturbed by being towed by Marquez or others, but the concern for Q1 would’ve been more acute – as while the mere presence of Marquez behind wouldn’t have impacted his laptime, it would’ve created the possibility of Bagnaia dragging Marquez, and perhaps someone else, to a better laptime and getting himself knocked out in Q1.
Indeed, Bagnaia’s tone was less relaxed after qualifying, as he indicated the ‘Moto3-like’ situation was becoming a worry. ” I think in qualifying I had seven bikes behind me. It’s okay, there are no rules about it, but it’s starting to become a bit of a problem.”
The tactics proved irrelevant during the first run as Bagnaia broke clear of Marquez and the rest of his pursuers, but the TV feed captured conversations between Ducati higher-ups and Miller later in the session, and it was Miller who then headed out of the garage first while Bagnaia waited.
Marquez picked up Miller as a reference point, but the Aussie made a mistake at Turn 4 on his first attempt and then crashed at Turn 2 after the chequered flag.
Asked whether Ducati had requested that he not follow Bagnaia, Miller, who was four tenths off after the opening run, said: “Nah, not really. Even myself when I left the box the second time, I had the freight train [behind me].
“I mean, at the end of the day there’s always going to be guys there who want to try and follow. Means you’re doing something right.
“The only thing I don’t like is watching guys that have been complaining for the last 9-10 grands prix about people following doing exactly what they’re going on about, slowing down on the back straight and whatnot, [having] basically made a career out of doing that until about this year.”
