Marc Marquez has put all the blame on Joan Mir after the two Spaniards collided in the latter stages of the Thai Grand Prix.
The treacherous conditions in the Thai Grand Prix presented Marc Marquez with the opportunity to take victory number four in 2024. However, Marquez ended up finishing in 11th place after crashing out of second place.
The eight-time World Champion was battling with Francesco Bagnaia for the lead. However, whilst pushing to try and stay with Bagnaia, Marquez crashed and slid back down the order. After the race, Marquez admitted to his mistake and aims to learn from it for the future.
"My emotions are good, we are human we make mistakes," Marquez stated. "Today we were the fastest ones, but not the smartest ones. So, we made a mistake at turn eight, I was faster than Bagnaia, but I was unable to overtake him. In fact, during the race, I was playing and trying to cool down the front tyre. Because when I was following him very close the tyre temperature went up and I had a lot of problems. But we can't do anything now, just learn from our mistakes."
Despite his crash, Marquez was determined to try to save his machine and keep fighting for the podium. But after his bike jumped off the curb Marquez had lost control and found himself much lower down the order than expected.
"Two or three more meters without the curb and maybe I would have been able to save it," Marquez claimed. "I was fighting against the bike, but when I took the curb the bike jumped and I lost both tyres completely. But I was super close to saving it."
'Even like this his finish position was the same because he was super slow.'
Once Marquez had rejoined the race he was determined to make his way back through the order. The 31-year-old was one of the fastest riders on the track but got slowed down by his old Honda teammate.
Marquez and Joan Mir collided at Turn Three whilst the Gresini Ducati rider was trying to pass the Repsol Honda. However, Marquez has placed all the blame on the 'super slow' Mir as he believes Mir knew that his Ducati was there.
"The problem with Joan (Mir) is he needs to realise that I was faster," Marquez stated. "If you check the image it looks like I hit him from behind. But when we arrived at the brake point I was completely parallel or maybe even in front. He knew that there was somebody on his inside, but he decided to release the brakes and go in. I was unable to stop the bike, and even like this his finish position was the same because he was super slow."
After the collision with Mir caused the Repsol Honda rider to run off track Marquez was penalised. The Spaniard was told to drop one position, but he was already three seconds ahead of Mir at this point.
It was not seen on the broadcast but Marquez did allow Nakagami back through briefly after passing the LCR Honda rider. Technically meaning that he had completed his penalty before the end of the race, meaning he finished in 11th place.
"I was given the drop one place penalty, and I did it was (Takaaki) Nakagami, but the Race Direction did not see it. But I overtook Nakagami on the brakes at Turn Three, let him pass and took him again before Turn Four. I did it, and I agree with the penalty because in the end I took Mir out, so I agree."
