Marc Marquez says there is “no excuse” for his crash in Sunday's MotoGP Italian Grand Prix, which left him out of the points in 16th and allowed his points lead to be cut to 23.
Marquez was chasing race leader Jorge Lorenzo when he lost the front of his Honda under braking for the Scarperia Turn 10 on the fifth lap of the Mugello race.
He was able to remount his relatively unscathed Honda and get to the finish in 16th, while main championship rivals Andrea Dovizioso and Valentino Rossi climbed onto the podium, with the latter slashing the Spaniard's standings lead from 36 to 23.
Marquez pinned the blame for the crash on the asymmetric hard front tyre Michelin brought to this race, which was a tyre he 'crashed many times on' last year, but concedes he didn't manage the tyre situation “in the best way”.
“We knew before the race that it would be difficult for us because we were struggling a lot with the front tyre in the afternoon,” he said.
“In the morning I was very fast, but the race time was in the afternoon.
“I’m happy because we were there, if you crash and you are far from the top then it is one thing but today was so difficult to manage the risk, because we had tyres that were from last year in the beginning of the season that I crashed many time [using].
“This was one of the main reasons because I didn't understand well [how the tyre behaved].
“Apart from that, there's no excuse, it was for everybody the same and we didn't manage in the correct way.
“But the most important thing is we are still 23 points in front, and last year we were 37 behind.
“One of the good things today is that Lorenzo won, he takes points off Dovizioso and Valentino, and it looks like all the title contenders are losing some points and nobody wants to open a big gap.”
Petrucci furious over Marquez lap one clash
Marquez collided with Pramac's Danilo Petrucci at Luco on the opening lap as he forced his way through to the front, forcing the Italian to run off track.
Petrucci – who ended up seventh – labeled the clash “unbelievable”, while also revealing a late fuel pump issue added to his woes.
“I did a good start, I gained two positions, but Turn 2, Marquez did always the same and push me out of the track.
“It's unbelievable because I almost crashed and I lost six or seven positions. I did a great race, but unfortunately with five laps to go I got this problem with the fuel pump and my rear tyre was finished.
“Anyway, [we gained] some good points for the championship, we are still fighting for the second place.”
