“I don’t have the situation under control” - Marc Marquez on Assen MotoGP struggles

Marc Marquez didn’t “have the situation under control” at the Asse MotoGP, as he slumped to two finishes outside the top-five.

Marquez finished the Sprint at Assen seventh on the road but was promoted to sixth after a penalty for Francesco Bagnaia for exceeding track limits on the final lap.

Marquez told his team after the Sprint, in which he finished sixth, that he couldn’t overtake at Assen as he didn’t have control of the “situation”.

“I couldn’t overtake,” Marc Marquez said, as revealed in the latest episode of the Inside Ducati Lenovo Team behind-the-scenes series.

“I don’t have the situation under control.”

Speaking to the media after the Sprint, Marquez said: “I’m in safe mode. In this circuit you need to feel, and I don’t feel that I can push much more.

“Last year I was able to survive well. This year, ‘survive’ means ‘really survive’.”

After crossing the line sixth in the race, Marquez was demoted to seventh for exceeding track limits on the final lap. The Spaniard said afterwards that he had “no more” to give in the race, that was his worst result in a race he’s finished without crashing since Italy, his first race back from shoulder and foot surgery after he crashed in the Sprint at Le Mans.

“Let’s leave Assen,” he told his team, lightheartedly. 

“I had no more,” he added. “I couldn’t go into corners the way I like. Last year I overtook on the right corners, this year [no].”

Marquez heads to the next race at Sachsenring, where he has been victorious 12 times in his career, 40 points adrift of Jorge Martin, who took the championship lead at Assen after Marco Bezzecchi crashed out in the early laps. Marquez’s deficit is 62 points less than it was after that return race at Mugello.