Jorge Lorenzo demands to know from Marc Marquez: “What’s missing to win?”

Jorge Martin is aboard the new and improved GP24 Ducati, while six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez is riding last season’s title-winning bike.

However, the difference in top speed between both Ducatis was a slight surprise at the Qatar MotoGP. 

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But this was not because of the difference in machinery, instead due to Marquez losing time on acceleration coming out of the final corner.

Eager to know what was causing the speed differential, Lorenzo asked Marquez post-race saying: “I was a bit shocked at the speed difference compared to Martin’s bike, which I didn’t see yesterday.

“But today it was obvious that you were missing two or three tenths from the engine. I don’t know what caused it.

“And then the simple question: what’s missing to win? Did the circuit also influence you? Here in Qatar where you haven’t won many times.”

Marquez had a clear response for his former rival, which had nothing to do with the bike’s potential.

Riding the final corner in a better way during the sprint, Marquez admitted he was at fault.

“Yes, well I only won once, in 2014,” began Marquez when responding to Lorenzo. “Qatar has always been a bit of a drag for me but my target was to be in the top five, both in the sprint and the race.

“But more than the lack [of speed] from the engine, it was my mistake. I was exiting the last turn badly. 

“In the sprint I was doing it very well. We’ve also made a small change to the bike thinking it would help and we saw that I didn’t end up being very comfortable and this made me lose in acceleration, which is key in these battles.

“I was winning in other points but it didn’t end up compensating. So we need to make a note of this for the next races, but for the moment, what’s missing is missing.

“I need to manage those fast corners better and also manage the front tyre better.

“I fought a bit too much with the bike, in the sprint I was more comfortable, so we’ll see if we can take all of this into consideration and learn.”