Marc Marquez makes surprise admission about Austria MotoGP sprint win
Marc Marquez won his 12th sprint of the year in Austria
MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez admits he was unlikely to beat Alex Marquez in the Austrian Grand Prix sprint had the latter not made a mistake late on.
The factory Ducati rider brushed off a crash in qualifying earlier on Saturday that left him fourth on the grid to win his sixth successive sprint and his 12th of the season.
Marc Marquez ultimately cruised to a 1.180s advantage at the chequered flag ahead of Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez.
Alex Marquez led from second on the grid for the first nine laps, before a mistake exiting Turn 2 allowed Marc Marquez to draw alongside him and overtake into Turn 3 on lap 10.
Though maintaining his sprint domination of the 2025 season, Marc Marquez admits he’s not sure he could have won at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday without his younger brother’s error.
“Today, the mistake in the qualy penalised us a bit,” he told the official MotoGP website.
“Starting in that fourth position, I knew the first lap was important.
“When I saw that I was second, I just tried to attack Alex immediately. But he was riding fast.
“So, I was not faster than him, or I was not fast enough to overtake him. So, I decided to follow him.
“In one moment the front started to move a bit because the way to have the slipstream makes everything more difficult.
“Then I slowed down a bit, then I came back in those last laps.
“He did that small mistake on Turn 2b, and without that mistake I don’t know if it was possible to overtake him.
“But it was enough to win and I’m happy to share one more time first and second with Alex.”
Marc Marquez has now extended his lead in the standings over Alex Marquez to 123 points.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s grand prix, the elder Marquez brother is still wary of the threat posed by his Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia - who retired from the sprint with an issue - and polesitter Marco Bezzecchi on the factory Aprilia.
“Of course, I’d prefer to have a dry race,” he added.
“Even if we have a dry race, I expect Marco Bezzecchi and Pecco to be super strong because in the race pace they were super-fast.
“I don’t know what happened in the sprint, but they were super-fast during the practice.
“Alex has the long lap penalty [for a collision with Joan Mir at Brno], so this will penalise him a lot.
“We wait for a dry race. If it’s wet, try to understand the feeling and finish the race.”
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