​Marc Marquez believes his best realistic outcome for Sunday’s German Grand Prix is a third-place finish unless he can make a significant step forward overnight, even though he faced no real challenge for victory in the sprint. Although Marquez has been the quickest rider at the Sachsenring this weekend, posting the fastest lap on Friday and then topping both qualifying and the sprint on Saturday, the factory Ducati rider knows securing the same result in the grand prix won’t be easy. He feels that his strategy helped him prevail in the sprint by outmaneuvering his younger brother Alex Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio, but concedes that repeating it over the full race distance will demand more.
The Spaniard has racked up 12 Sachsenring wins in his career, including nine in the premier class, yet he warned that this time the challenge to stay on top will be far greater. “That’s what happens at Sachsenring, you win and it’s considered normal,” he said. “Now the question is why the others finished so close. Without a doubt, they had more, but I started first and imposed my pace. In any case, tomorrow we have to improve because if we don’t, we’ll finish third.”
Marquez admitted that on Saturday he felt “uncomfortable” on the bike, with the adjustments his team implemented for the sprint not suiting him. He did not go into detail about the exact problems, but warned that persisting issues could make it far harder to stay at the front for the entire grand prix distance. “I was very uncomfortable throughout the race, I have to understand why. We won, but I was uncomfortable,” he confessed. “We made changes for the sprint; they don’t seem to have helped, perhaps because it was hotter. We have to understand what I need for tomorrow over 30 laps, because it will be difficult. I was riding at a very consistent pace, but I was floating; I wasn’t riding the way I wanted to. However, it was enough to win. Tomorrow, we have the warm-up to try to take a step forward.”
Marquez has faced physical limitations in recent months, still not fully recovered from surgery on his badly injured right shoulder in May. Yet Sachsenring’s anti-clockwise layout places less strain on the right side of his body, making the German GP one of the more tolerable races on the calendar for him. When asked about his physical condition, Marquez stated: “My shoulder here is working well. The elbow is a bit painful, but it does not cause any limitation.”
Alex Marquez, now with Gresini Racing, and Marc Marquez, riding for Ducati Team, are closely connected in this weekend’s narrative. The reigning world champion believes his brother would have achieved victory in the sprint if not for the lingering aftereffects of his Catalan GP crash, which left him with fractures in his collarbone and vertebra. “I’m very happy to see my brother back riding as he can,” Marquez added.
In short, Marc Marquez’s assessment before the German Grand Prix is clear: the potential for a podium is there, but sustained success over 30 laps will require improvements and perhaps a touch of fortune, especially if the team cannot optimize the bike’s setup to match the pace shown earlier in the weekend.