Marquez hails surge in MotoGP points lead as brother and Bagnaia fail to score

Marc Marquez has highlighted the importance of his steady ride to second at the tricky French Grand Prix after the result delivered him a substantial lead in the MotoGP standings.

The six-time champion started Sunday’s grand prix just two points ahead of his brother Alex – the pair had traded narrow leads ever since Marc’s fall at the Americas GP in March.

But with Alex crashing from third late in the grand prix and failing to score, Marc will head into the British Grand Prix with a healthy 22-point advantage.

Sixteenth place and zero points for Francesco Bagnaia, who was taken out of contention by Enea Bastianini on the first lap, meant Marc also stretched his advantage over the man placed third in the points table. The gap between the factory Ducati pair grew from 31 to 51 points on Sunday. 

Given that runaway French GP winner Johann Zarco is not a title contender, Marc says he was aware of the opportunity a runner-up finish represented in championship terms. On a mixed-weather day when his title rivals hit the deck, his focus was on avoiding the same fate.

“[This was one of those] days when you need to minimise the damage. Because in these conditions it’s super easy to make a small mistake,” said the Spaniard.

“During the race, I was just trying to control [the gap to] Alex. He’s my brother, but he’s the main opponent for the championship. At the moment he is the one closest to me. I just tried to manage the distance between me and him. 

“At one point I saw that I was closing on Johann, but eight seconds were too much. [I would have had to do lap times of 1m45s] which was too much risk. I came back to [the 1m46s-1m47s bracket to] finish the race.”

Marquez said his crash at the Spanish Grand Prix two Sundays previously had been a factor in his safe ride this time around.

“It was that kind of day when you can make a mistake… or it’s easy to make one,” he added.

“But the fact that I made a mistake at Jerez [meant I] avoided a mistake today. If I were coming off a victory at Jerez… I’m 80% sure I would have crashed today, because I know myself!

“But I need to keep thinking about that mistake at Jerez. I’m trying to improve for the future.”