Marquez in the middle of the Yamahas

Marc Marquez was the only rider able to lap faster than a Yamaha during Friday practice at Misano.

On a day when M1s filled four of top five places, the reigning world champion put his Repsol Honda into third on the timesheets.

"Since Brno, all the Yamaha riders are riding in a very good way, but then on Sunday for some reason they are struggling more or less. But here already in the test they were very very fast," Marquez said.

"It looks like Yamaha and Suzuki, for some reason, are working in a very good way and in some types of corners, some types of circuits, they have very strong points. Of course they have weak points too.

"But the most important thing for us is, yes, there are four Yamahas in the front, but we are in the middle. At some circuits, there are four Ducatis in the front, but again we are in the middle. This is the most important, trying to find this consistency."

Marquez got a close look at several of the Yamahas during practice, including Vinales and Quartararo, plus a Suzuki. The #93 later revealed he wasn't just interested in differences between the machines in terms of Sunday's race, but also longer-term improvements to the RC213V.

"Today I followed a Suzuki, I followed a Yamaha … of course I'm not going out from the box looking for them, it's just that if they are there, I try to follow them, because luckily for us this year, we lead a lot of laps in the race, and are always in the front," Marquez said.

"This is good, but on the other side, you cannot compare where your weak points or your strong points are with the other bikes.

"Now we are working a lot, the Japanese staff are starting to work a lot on the 2019 bike, to be more precise in the comments, to understand better the weak points, sometimes it's better to follow some bikes because then you realize where you are faster and slower."

Marquez certainly looks to have speed in hand for Saturday after remaining on used tyres at the end of the sessions: "Sometimes on Friday you need to forget the others, switch off the TVs and just focus on your job."

Just as at Silverstone, the Spaniard was using the standard Honda chassis, rather than the newer version with carbon fibre parts.

"Already in Silverstone we were working with the current one. From the Sachsenring to Austria we made some back-to-back tests, but there was not a clear positive thing," he said. "Not a clear negative also, but when you are not sure, you forget about it and focus on our base.

"We focus on our goal, which is to take points and finish races, sometimes it's better to use something that you know, and this is the target."

Marquez, now 78 points clear of Andrea Dovizioso in this year's world championship, got to try an early version of the 2020 Honda engine during the recent Misano test, but played down the outing.

"It was the first impression, and basically I did only two runs, one on the first day and one on the second day, because it was just like a function check, how was the engine, if everything was OK, and how was the first impression.

"And like always, with a new engine, you tried to make it smoother in the bottom and more torque in the top, but the compromise is sometimes difficult to find. But it's a different concept which was the first idea, and now in Valencia they will bring the real step."

Finally, the reigning five-time MotoGP champion dodged rumours that he might have a new team-mate next year in the form of younger brother Alex, should Jorge Lorenzo choose not to continue in 2020.

"I don't think so. Jorge is Jorge, he has one more year of contract," Marquez said. "Of course he is coming back from an injury, today he was already one step closer. At the test he was also further away. But not only Jorge, also Cal is struggling, and it looks like Nakagami is also struggling a bit.

"I'm just focused in my box, I'm trying to do my 100%... But I will always respect my team-mate, because he is Jorge Lorenzo and he has one more year of contract."