On Friday, Jorge Martín was worried about his performance on one lap but was reassuring about his race pace. The situation was completely reversed on Saturday: the championship leader took pole but he was unable to fight for first place in the race and ended up crashing.
Martín was overtaken by Pecco Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini at the start. He regained the advantage over Bastianini, who did everything to respond. The two men finally had contact which led to the retirement of the Ducati rider. Martín was unable to hold second place for long as Marc Márquez overtook him and, as he was racing towards third place, he lost control of his bike at the first corner, without really having any warning.
VIDEO – The summary of the Italian GP sprint race
Lost after this abandonment, Martín especially wants to improve his feelings for the main race, knowing that he will be in difficulty again if no progress is made.
What is the cause of the fall?
I looked at the data and, on the previous lap, I went wide so I braked a little earlier, a little less hard, so as not to go wide, and I crashed. I don’t like it when I don’t understand why I’m falling, even when doing analysis. The temperature was good, the pressure was good, but from my feelings it seems that I was really at the limit on the front. We have to work because it looks like I overloaded the front a little too much. After three laps, I already had the impression that the tire was 20. Of course it wasn’t good, it felt like the rear was pushing. We have to improve the settings for tomorrow because with this bike I can’t perform well. We’ll see what happens.
What was your pace?
Already yesterday afternoon, I did a 1’46″1 with a very worn tire. At the end of the sprint, I was in 1’46″4 giving 100% so it’s sure that something is wrong. it wasn’t going. My feelings aren’t great so there’s one thing we need to resolve for tomorrow because it was really difficult to shoot. I felt a big difference compared to Pecco and Marc on the track. The good thing is that we have the data, we have the information, so we will try to be closer.
Jorge Martín could not follow Pecco Bagnaia for long
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
What happened with Enea Bastianini?
With Enea he was already aggressive in the first round. He went wide at the first corner, I took the normal line to get back in front and I felt the contact. I didn’t know if he had fallen because I didn’t see him. I saw the images on the giant screen. I’m going to have to go to race management. I think they have already made the decision so I don’t think there will be the slightest problem, but it’s always a surprise with the race direction!
I think this style is dangerous and I was lucky he fell and I didn’t, but it was definitely borderline.
Do you think the incident with Enea was avoidable?
Of course it could have been avoided if he hadn’t returned to the trajectory without looking! I took a normal trajectory, he went wide and he closed the trajectory. He touched me. Already, on the first lap at Arrabiata, he closed the line while I was in front and I couldn’t see him, but I heard him. I think this style is dangerous and I was lucky he fell and I didn’t, but it was definitely borderline.
This is the first time you haven’t scored points in a sprint…
Sooner or later this moment was going to come and it was today. I would rather it be today because I felt really bad, rather than a day when I felt good! We will focus on tomorrow and the next sprint.
Jorge Martin
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Why do we see title contenders falling so much?
It sure doesn’t really help. The level is really high and when it’s that hot it’s really hard to keep the pressure and temperature low [dans le pneu avant]. The level is very high, you have to attack a lot, the times are incredible… In the sprint, we did the times we did in qualifying three years ago so it’s crazy. Maintaining this for 11 turns still risks falling.
Was this to be expected with a sprint this much faster than last year?
As I told you, the times are incredibly fast. Today I didn’t have the pace to win, I knew that before the race. I tried to stay with Pecco. He was escaping but I think I had the podium under control, let’s say. I missed four laps but in each race, we improve the sprint by eight or ten seconds, that’s a lot. The tires are better and the bikes are better.
Do you see a common point between today’s fall and that of Jerez?
I think it’s completely the same. The only thing is today I tried to be calm and I fell [alors qu’à] Jerez, I continued to do the same thing. Maybe I had more of an angle in Jerez. It’s really difficult to understand, but it happened to Pecco in Montmeló, to me in Jerez and here… I don’t understand why, we have to understand it because it affects confidence for the next races.
