Alex: Marc Marquez ‘making less mistakes’ than he did after switch from Honda

Marc Marquez announced his arrival at Ducati by claiming two top five finishes during the sprint and Qatar MotoGP.

In contention for the podium until the final couple of laps, Marquez was one of the most impressive riders throughout the weekend, and his brother says one of the reasons for that is down to the limited amount of mistakes he’s making. 

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Asked about the comparison from when he left Honda to join Ducati and that of Marc when it comes to mistakes adapting to the bike, Alex Marquez said: “Less! He is an eight-time world champion so for sure he makes less.

“He was fourth and in Qatar he had the pace like Martin or Binder to win the race.

“But when you are behind someone and the front pressure goes up it is difficult to control.

“But he had a really good performance in a track that he struggled at. I was quite impressed.”

Portimao has been one of Alex Marquez’s strongest circuits in recent time, and the Gresini rider is hoping that allows him to be in the mix for big points this weekend.

However, Marquez is not getting too ahead of himself as he is well aware that taking a liking to a particular circuit does not guarantee a strong performance.

“You can have extra confidence but then you can hit the wall in FP1,” said Marquez. “It’s better to have lower expectations and go from practice to pracitce.

“I experienced it many times where I arrived at a track that I loved but then you end up in a difficult situation.

“On paper it is one of my favourites and one where I can be fast. But it is the beginning of the season and just the second race of the season. 

“We need to get points in the championship to create a good base for the championship.”

Speaking of confidence, Marquez went on to add that starting the season well can make or break a rider’s confidence for the remainder of the year.

“I’m speaking about confidence to have good results at the beginning of the season gives confidence to the rider for the rest of the season,” said Marquez.

“I think it is a crucial part of the season. The first four or five races can create that base and confidence level for a rider to not have many crashes and to be in a good position in the championship.

“Then, the approach to the rest of the championship is very different compared to if you make a lot of mistakes at the beginning which is what happened to me last year.”