Marc Márquez (P1) – “Today, with a good start, I managed to put together the type of race I wanted, as I could push harder when I felt like I could do it. I felt comfortable and could ride well. These are the type of races in which – if you want to fight for the title – it is crucial to ensure the best possible result without making mistakes, because as we saw today, both Alex and Pecco were very competitive. It was the perfect weekend: I got back the feeling I had before Silverstone and I hope we can continue this way at Mugello.”
Alex Marquez (P2) – “We were coming from two not-so brilliant performances in previous races and to find back this consistency with a second place was important, considering also the return by Bagnaia in third. This one-two with Marc on Spanish turf was nice, now we look forward to the next circuits where we hope to have something more to battle for the win.”
Francesco Bagnaia (P3) – “This podium finish is a very important one for the morale as well as for the whole team. We have been working tirelessly in the last three weekends to solve the issues, but then for a reason or another we just couldn’t put everything together. After yesterday’s Sprint, in which I didn’t manage to get the front tyre to work, today we got off to a better start and the adjustment made during warm up surely helped me a lot. It was a small modification that gave me a lot more confidence, especially under braking, and allowed me to be more competitive.”
Pedro Acosta (P4) – “Taking the hard front tire was the right choice. I’m a guy that needs the front tire to go faster and yesterday it was a handicap. Today it was fantastic. We didn’t have the speed for the top three; it was a battle we would have lost but I really enjoyed the first five laps. We were losing a bit into the entry of the corners – we need traction and turning – but this was the race where we had a smaller gap to the winner. This is a positive.”
Franco Morbidelli (P5) – “It was a complicated race. Today I expected to do better, especially at the beginning I wasn’t having the right feeling. I’m really happy to have finished the race, because I had huge moments in three turns. It was a very eventful race, and I fought to maintain my position, luckily, I was able to keep it. In tomorrow’s test it will be important to make a good work plan to arrive in a good shape to Mugello, we are all pumped up for our home race.”
Fermin Aldeguer (P6) – “It was a good weekend, we learned a lot and also brought home a Sprint podium. Today we raced well, battled and bagged some important points. A pity to have lost the fight with Morbidelli as I’m sure we had something more, but he’s a tough one to beat as well as a rider with great experience. We’ll work on exactly that tomorrow, more laps and experience.”
Joan Mir (P7) – “Finally we were able to finish the race with a respectable result, I don’t think I have ever felt like this for a seventh place! It shows the situation we have been in and I am really hoping that this is a turning point, we have to be happy with what we have accomplished and where we have come from. Of course, there are still areas to work on, and I hope that Monday brings us a few more things to help with this. I was able to understand even more where the other riders and bikes are making the difference on us. I gave everything, used all the tools I had to battle with these guys, and I am satisfied knowing I gave my maximum.”
Marco Bezzecchi (P8) – “On one hand, I’m disappointed and on the other, I’m satisfied. I am definitely satisfied with what I did, if we look at where I started from. I am clearly not pleased because I could have done more. My goal is to improve my time attack, which is an aspect where I have struggled, even in Silverstone, for example, where I won but still had to start from the eleventh spot on the grid. We’ll keep testing and try to sort this issue.”
Fabio Di Diannantonio (P9) – “Unfortunately, today we battled too far away, I struggled with the front, and I was feeling at the limit in the braking. We are struggling a bit, but, together with the team, we are working very hard. The guys are amazing because we try to improve in every area. We are trying to understand how to do steps forward, but we are aware that we can perform well. The good thing is that today we collected a very important data that could be a real turning point.”
Alex Rins (P11) – “I was struggling in the first 10-12 laps, but from 12 laps onwards I was suddenly able to do low to medium 1’47s. I was riding super fast in the last part of the race. We need to fix this and find something that allows me to be faster in the opening stages. We need to work on it. We have some items that we can test tomorrow that Augusto tested today, which will be important.”
Enea Bastianini (P12) – “Not too satisfied with the feeling. It was the same as yesterday’s race but one good thing is that I was faster in the cooler conditions this morning and this is something the team can check. I had some vibration in the afternoon and it was a limitation when you need to fight because you need to be aggressive on corner entry. A difficult race. It’s good we have the test tomorrow. I think I will be one of the first out and last to go in!”
Jack Miller (P14) – “Not the day we wanted, but we take it. At least we finished with couple of points. At the beginning I felt I had a good speed, after a few laps I also tried to attack Fabio at turn 12, but was hard to stop, went a little wide and from that moment my pace dropped and was really difficult to get back to the rhythm. I could see the issues he was having, very similar to mine, and when he lost the bike at turn 1 I almost did the same. There were some very big vibrations from the rear from lap 7 and continued to be there especially on the right side. I tried to be gentle and ride around the issues I had, but I was suffering a lot, anytime I tried to go faster I was making some mistakes or have some moments, so… It was not an easy weekend for us, but that is how it goes sometimes.”
Miguel Oliveira (P15) – “I think we could more or less copy and paste the issues Jack had. I also experienced some vibrations on the right side, especially when entering turns 3 and 13. But the biggest issue for me was front locking during the early and middle stages of the race, and how unbalanced the bike felt between a full and empty fuel tank. It was really difficult to keep the bike on track during the first ten laps. Once the fuel load lightened a bit, things became slightly easier, but there‘s still a lot of work to do. Tomorrow, we‘ll focus on a few key areas we believe need improvement—especially the time attack, where we‘re currently struggling a lot.”
Somkiat Chantra (P16) – “The race was pretty good, and I’m happy with how things went today. We tried a different setup and worked well as a team. We made a step forward and had more pace than yesterday. I managed to close the gap, so that’s a good sign. We’re moving in the right direction, and that’s positive. We’ll try again in Mugello!”
Lorenzo Savadori (P17) – “We struggled a bit with the front and, unfortunately, in the opening laps I made a couple of mistakes. I went long, caught up in the slipstream, and I lost time. After that, my pace was good. In fact, on the penultimate lap I did a time of 1.47.9, so I was in line with the times around tenth place. We need to try and sort the braking stage in these conditions a bit, because positive aspects came out in terms of the upgrades we are testing in the race. There will be an important test on Monday and we’ll have a tight schedule of elements to test.”
Maverick Viñales (P18) – “I don’t know how I crashed. It was so smooth, I didn’t feel it. I was braking on the same marks and speed. I just got sucked by the slipstream of Joan [Mir] and lost the front. A shame. I think we lost the GP due to the issue with the two qualifying tires on Saturday morning because there was huge potential again today to be on the podium. I was riding in low 1min 47s quite easily. I was hit at the start and lost four-five position on the first lap. This is racing though, and the next GP something like that can fall your way. I told the team: we need to be on the first two rows, and we need to change it for that key fast lap. Once we have the medium tires [for the race] then the bike is really on-point.”
Brad Binder (DNF) – “Today started well: no spin, I felt normal and everything was going to plan. But then I lost the front into Turn 3. I thought ‘what the hell happened?’ I later saw the data and I had less speed, less brake and less pressure on the tire. It’s tricky because every time I gain some confidence with the front end it tends to give up on me! I need to take the positives from the weekend and I was able to take what I needed from the bike: every time I needed a quick lap I was able to be in the mix. If we can hold the performance from this weekend going forwards then things can only get better.”
Johann Zarco (DNF) – “Today, I had a good pace during the laps I completed and felt competitive enough to fight for a top 10 position. While trying to overtake Miller, the tyre temperature got too high due to the conditions we were facing on track, and I crashed. At least we learned something from that. I feel like I know the bike pretty well now. I can tell when things are working and when they aren’t, and that helps. Tomorrow’s test will be important. Overall, the strong results from recent weeks give me the confidence to accept that setbacks happen sometimes, and we always learn from every situation.”
Fabio Quartararo (DNF) – “I had the same problem as yesterday. The grip was improving lap by lap because of the rubber on track, but when I pushed just a little bit more, I lost the front. We have to understand why this happened. Tomorrow we are testing here. Today we saw that we still have to improve, but I think that in Mugello and Assen we can be much faster.”
