Explained: What went wrong for Marc Marquez on Austrian MotoGP start line

Marc Marquez entered the Austrian MotoGP with strong hopes of a podium finish after showing strong pace in Saturday’s Sprint, but they were gone after only a few hundred metres.

The problems for Marquez began as he pulled up to the grid, as his front ride holeshot device didn’t engage as he braked to pull up to his grid slot. 

With little time before stopping in his third-place grid position and the lights going out, Marquez was unable to sort out his start device before the lights went out, and he had to start without it.

• 2024 Austrian MotoGP, Red Bull Ring - Race Results

It meant that Marquez was at a huge disadvantage off the line than his rivals, and he fell backwards off the line. 

Contact then with Franco Morbidelli as they braked for the first turn sent both of them into the turn one run-off area. Marquez rejoined the track in 14th place, from where he recovered to fourth by the end. 

As the only rider lapping in the mid-1:30s in the closing stages of the race, with the exception of eventual winner Francesco Bagnaia, it’s arguable that Marquez lost out on a chance to fight for victory against Bagnaia due to his issues at the start.

MotoGP.com pit lane reporter Simon Crafar explained: “When you pull up to the line before the start, you have to use the brakes hard, that’s why you see them stoppie [to] engage the front device. Marc’s was not engaged.”

It was the moment when Marquez pulled up to the grid, before the race had actually started, that he lost the race in Austria.

“He [Marquez] lost the race,” said Alex Lowes on TNT Sports. “It was a shame. As soon as I saw his bike was not ready, his device was not activated, his race was over.

“Five or six good passes from Marc shows that he would’ve been in a battle with the second group. He would have been in a battle with Bastianini for the podium.

“It’s good to see from Marc but the race was over in the first 10 seconds for him.

“You saw how disappointed he was because it was a chance to be on the podium.

Michael Laverty explained the difficulty with starting a modern MotoGP bike without the start device.

“It’s like riding a road bike off the line. It’s going to take three seconds to 100km/h,” Laverty told TNT Sports. 

“The rest are going one second faster in that few hundred metres.

“The game was over for him. He was lucky to stay on. For most riders the contact from behind [with Morbidelli] would be enough to [take a] hand off the handlebars. But he was quite strong and sturdy, in this instance.

“He had to fight back. He dug deep. He may have had a podium on the cards today but the game was over when he lined up, and the launch device didn’t engage.”