Marquez brothers: 'Different styles, same mentality'
The Marquez family could be celebrating two world champions in 2014, with Marc confirmed as a double MotoGP title winner and younger brother Alex having his first shot at the Moto3 crown this weekend in Malaysia.
Honda rider Alex holds a 20-point advantage over KTM's Jack Miller and is guaranteed to be champion with one round to spare if he can build his advantage to at least 26 points on Sunday.
"We have different riding styles," Marc said of his 18-year-old brother. "He is much more precise than me. Always holds the same lines, the bike never moves, really smooth. I am completely the opposite. The bike is always moving, never the same line, wide going in.
"But in the end I think the mentality is the same. Always try to win, always try to do your 100 percent. We will see when he goes to Moto2 next year, maybe he will change the riding style. Because in 125 I was always really smooth, but my riding style changed in Moto2 to be more aggressive."
And what advice would Marc give Alex for Sunday's race?
"In Moto3, the advice is you must do the same," Marc replied. "It is easy to say, but you must push like in every race because the problem is if you relax or try to calculate you will finish fifth, sixth or seventh. There are so many riders fighting for the victory and you need to be aggressive and push.
"The perfect thing [for Alex] would be to finish in front of Miller, but if Miller finishes in front of him it is not the end of the world. The advantage that he [Alex] has is that Miller cannot make any mistake and my brother has these 20 points. So he can make some mistake, or if for some reason he doesn't feel so good in the race and finishes behind it is not a problem.
"So the pressure in this case is on Miller to finish in front, or to win the race. If he [Miller] wants to win the championship, he needs to win the race."
Alex Marquez is not the only rider with the chance to win a first world title on Sunday, with Esteve Rabat holding a dominant 41-point advantage in the Moto2 class. Rabat is a close friend of the Marquez brothers, training with them regularly.
"Tito is Mr Consistent," said Marc Marquez. "He is incredible in practice. He is doing maybe 25 laps in a row. I always say to him, 'you will be tired before the race on Sunday!'
"But it is his style and he is doing really well, he is always doing lots of laps and doing a special thing on the entry to the corner that is working so well. He works really hard at the Almeria circuit and now you can see that he has a special feeling with the bike."
