Marc Marquez points to “big mistakes” - and how he overcame them to dominate

MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez says his early-season crashes were “big mistakes” but acknowledges that “we are not perfect”.

After 12 rounds, the 32-year-old has runaway with the championship lead, building a 120-point buffer after eight grand prix victories and 11 sprint wins.

He has already broken the record for the most sprint wins in a season as well as for the most 37-point weekends in a single campaign, and is on course to win a seventh MotoGP title well before the end of the year.

But it has not been a trouble-free season for Marc Marquez, who suffered several costly falls in the early part of the year.

He crashed while leading comfortably at the Americas Grand Prix, and fell again while in a position to fight for the win at the Spanish Grand Prix.

On both occasions, he would lose the championship lead to Alex Marquez, albeit only by a single point.

Marquez fell again during the British Grand Prix while leading, but a fortunately-timed red flag for a separate incident allowed him to restart and finish third.

Since the British Grand Prix, however, Marquez has scored five consecutive 37-point weekends to take control in the championship.

Marc Marquez mentions his 'big mistakes'

Reflecting on his season at the summer break, Marquez said: “Was quite a perfect first part of the season.

“There were some mistakes, big mistakes. But in the end, we are not perfect.

“So, the most important thing is we learned about the mistakes.

“It looks like these last races we managed all the situations.

“So, as I say, now is time to take a rest.

“And then from Austria to Valencia, full focus to do the maximum every race, every practice.”

Despite his comfortable lead in the standings, Marquez has already ruled out approaching the next 10 rounds cautiously.

Such has been his dominance this year, Marquez moved into second all-time on the MotoGP wins list behind only Valentino Rossi and could best his own record of 13 victories in a season.

He has also become the first Ducati rider to win five grands prix in a row, having done so between the Aragon and Czech rounds.