Marc Marquez: ‘Those moments are important, I'm still there”

The reason was that, on two occasions, he had been able to push the struggling Honda above and beyond its capabilities, helping silence his own doubts.

Just 18th at the end of practice, Marquez ‘used one of my abilities’ and hitched a tow behind KTM’s Jack Miller to claim a surprise second with an ‘unreal’ lap in Qualifying 1.

But although he also positioned himself perfectly behind reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia for a repeat in Qualifying 2, his RC213V didn’t have the ability to even stay in the Ducati’s slipstream.

Bagnaia disappeared out of reach ‘in three corners’ with RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira catching and passing Marquez by the end of the same lap.

“In Qualifying 1 I was able to find the perfect lap, [behind] a bike that is not like Ducati. It’s a little bit slower, different riding style. And then I was able to follow [Miller] and I did an unreal lap.

“OK, it's not the best way [to follow], but also it's one of my abilities, to follow the others.

“In Qualifying 2 I tried to follow Pecco but already on the third corner, he was gone. So I did the lap alone.”

Marquez’s second Saturday highlight came in the early laps of the race.

While the other RCVs were tussling with Yamahas at the back of the field, Marquez rose to seventh place.

Briefly putting his new ‘risk-free’ approach to one side, Marquez said he was ‘riding over my limits’ and ‘setting an incredible pace’ before reality kicked in once again.

“In the end, I finished in 'my' position, eleventh. But after a good start, my pace was incredible in the first 5-6 laps. I was pushing extra and it was possible to have a crash because I was riding over my limits.

“I was able to follow them - a bit - but then I start to have [tyre] graining and I said, ‘OK, now it's time to come back and finish the race’. And I finished the race.

“But these short, single moments are important for my confidence. For myself. More than the result. To show that I'm still there. Because in the end you start to have some doubts even in yourself. If you are very, very far [behind].”

However, the eight-time world champion maintained he cannot sustain such ‘moments’ for a full race distance.

“Where was I yesterday? I was there with the other Hondas because that is the limit of the bike,” Marquez explained. “Today I put that extra limit, but I say already in Silverstone and Austria I will have that extra limit in a very single moments of the weekend.

“I cannot pretend to push all the weekend like that, because I will crash more times. Today in Qualifying 1, yeah, I finished the lap but was big risk to don't finish the lap.”

With the Hondas struggling from huge amounts of wheelspin, the only area Marquez feels he can fight is on the brakes.

“The only area where you can be the same, or even better, is on the brakes and going in [to the corners]. But that is also where you're taking risk,” he said.

“You can do it for one single lap, but to do 11 laps is difficult and to do 24 tomorrow is even more difficult.

“For example, I never suffer about arm pump, but if I want to follow that [competitive] rhythm, I start to suffer because I'm overriding the bike.

“We know it’s like this and I just try to find some positive points. And today is strange to say, but it was a very good day for us.”

While Marquez finished eleventh, the other Hondas filled the last three places on the classification with Iker Lecuona 19th, Takaaki Nakagami 20th and Marquez’s team-mate Joan Mir 21st and last.

Nakagami said he suffered unbelievable levels of spin, while 2020 world champion Mir felt he was losing out even to the other Hondas.

“I was opening the throttle and I was not moving [forwards]. I was losing two or three-tenths minimum with respect to the other Hondas,” said Mir.

“I'm in a moment that I need answers and I need to understand what is happening. Because everyone knows how to open the throttle.

“I brake, I go in with the others no problem. But the moment that I open the throttle, I stay in the same place. And they just go. So I really don't understand what I have to do.”