Marc Marquez is known to like to find a reference to follow for his fast qualifying laps, preferably a Ducati. As a Honda driver, he repeatedly drew criticism from his competitors.
This was also the case in qualifying at Mugello. This time he attached himself to the rear wheel of later pole setter Francesco Bagnaia. According to his own statement, but rather unintentionally.
Marquez usually waits in the pit lane for other drivers to catch up with them, but this time, as he was exiting, he happened to meet Bagnaia, who was on a fast lap. “I wasn’t waiting for Pecco this time, I was actually waiting for Bezzecchi,” said Marquez.
When that didn’t work out and he left the pit lane alone, the Spaniard met Bagnaia: “When I left the pits, Bagnaia came rushing in on his flying lap.”
This is how Marc Marquez experienced the situation with Bagnaia
“I decided to take another line to let him go because he was on a fast lap and when you come straight out of the pits and the tires aren’t up to temperature it’s impossible to follow him . But he stopped his lap and started complaining,” explains Marquez.
“I just said to myself: Thank you! Because that’s how I had the chance to follow him. And that’s what I did.” In the end, Marquez set the second-fastest time in qualifying. So he took his place on the grid right next to pole setter Bagnaia.
In the parc ferme, the Honda driver was mercilessly hissed at by the Italian fans after the incident. Bagnaia did not go into detail in his interview and also refused to testify in the subsequent press conference.
Bagnaia is silent, Ducati’s sports director rumbles
“I don’t want to take part in this discussion at all. I keep getting asked about it and I’m tired of it. I don’t want to say anything about it,” said the Italian. Since some of his statements have been exaggerated in the recent past (keyword: satellite teams), he has become tight-lipped towards the media.
He only said this much to Italian journalists: “What he did speaks for itself. Does he deserve a punishment? It’s not my job to judge.”
Ducati’s sports director Paolo Ciabatti was much more talkative. “It looks to me that Marc was a clear obstacle for ‘Pecco’ because he turned around when he came out of the pit lane,” he said shortly after qualifying.
“He saw ‘Pecco’ coming and took the (first) corner slowly. That made ‘Pecco’ lose concentration. I hope the race stewards do something, otherwise we won’t understand the rules.” But so far there has been no penalty.
Incident? What incident?: Puig didn’t see anything
Honda team manager Alberto Puig was also asked about the situation shortly before the sprint race and naturally saw things very differently: “I have no comment because nothing happened. So there is nothing to talk about. There was no incident, So what should I comment on?”
Marquez himself was still looking for a conversation with Bagnaia in Parc Ferme. “I told him he wasn’t right this time,” reveals the Spaniard. “There are times when I’m following him and bugging him when he’s right. But not this time.”
“I didn’t look for him. It was pure coincidence and he gave me the opportunity to follow him. I just told him that and he told me that I saw him arrive. But he was a hundred meters away, me didn’t bother him at all on the track,” confirms the Honda driver.
“But I didn’t want to waste too much time explaining. Eventually he gave in. If he had seen it on TV he would have known. Besides, when you’re the fastest and you have the best bike, you win in the end. Me so I don’t have much to fight against him anyway,” Marquez said.
That should come true in the sprint race a few hours later. Because while Bagnaia won, it was only enough for Marquez to finish seventh.