Alex Marquez: Silverstone “slightly better” for my style, but Marc “knows how to be fast”
Alex Marquez plays down outpacing brother Marc in qualifying for last year’s British MotoGP.
Alex Marquez may have outqualified brother Marc as Gresini team-mates at last year’s British MotoGP - and won the wet 2023 Sprint - but he’s under no illusions about who is favourite heading into this weekend’s Silverstone event.
Although Alex held the upper hand over a single lap last year, and agrees that Silverstone’s flowing corners suit his riding style, Marc turned the tables in both of last year’s races.
The #93 was holding fourth, with Alex in seventh, when he crashed out of the Sprint. Those positions - fourth for Marc, seventh for Alex - were then repeated at the chequered flag of the grand prix.
The Marquez brothers return to the UK holding first and second in this year’s world championship standings - new factory Ducati rider Marc breaking 22 points clear of Jerez winner Alex after a non-score at Le Mans.
Although Marc has not won at Silverstone since 2014, that was the case ahead of round four in Qatar, where Marc emerged with a perfect double victory.
“Last year, with the GP23 bike, he was able to be in front of me. So he is better than me [at Silverstone],” said Alex, who was 2.8s from Marc at the finish last season.
“It is a track that normally I enjoy it a lot, it's really fast, flowing. But about performance, it's not that I'm better than him [at Silverstone].
“Maybe it's a track that, for my riding style, is slightly better, but it's Marc Marquez, he's not a rider who doesn't know how to be fast on some tracks.”
Although Alex suffered his first DNF of the season after crashing twice in the Le Mans race, the Gresini rider had no regrets over his bike-swap decisions.
Like Marc, the #73 started on slicks, served a double long lap for the pre-race bike swap, then was forced to switch to wets as the rain worsened.
“For 6 laps, it was not raining. I think that 2 laps more in the dry, and we would have been able to be also in front of Johann [Zarco, race winner, starting on wets],” Alex said.
“A situation like that is always a lottery. We played the lottery in a good way, but later the crashes made our weekend look like a disaster, but it's not like that.
“In the right moments, we did everything really precise [strategically].”
The forecast suggests MotoGP could face another weekend of mixed weather at Silverstone.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
