Where would Marc Marquez have finished without Turn 1 mayhem in Austrian MotoGP?

Just 13th after his holeshot device woes and Turn 1 tangle with Franco Morbidelli in Sunday's Austrian MotoGP, Marc Marquez’s comeback ride to fourth place provided the main action in a largely dull race.

But where might the Gresini Ducati rider, who qualified on the front row and described the Red Bull Ring as one of his best weekends, have finished if he avoided the early drama?

On the latest edition of the Crash.net MotoGP podcast, host Jordan Moreland said:

“Marquez looked good in the Sprint, he was in second and I think he got Bagnaia’s lead down to about 1.1s when he made the mistake and crashed.

“On Sunday he had the chaos before the race, then an incident with Morbidelli and dropped back to 13th.

“He produced a good comeback ride to P4 and I suppose it's a story of what could have been because his pace looked really good when he had some clean air. He was able to match Bagnaia essentially.”

MotoGP journalist Lewis Duncan replied: “It was unfortunate. He did a great job, especially under the circumstances because his tyre pressures would have been set for a different race.

“So he was fighting his way through with I assume tyres that would have been way higher in pressure. And having crashed already in the Sprint, I suspect that would have been in the back of his mind.

“So I think we saw more of a knife-edge race from Marc than was maybe apparent on television.

“What would have happened without that [Turn 1 incident]? It's really hard to tell. His average pace was 4th, but with the caveat that he was doing quite a lot of overtaking.

“It’s quite hard to guess where Marquez would have been. I think he probably could have battled with Bastianini for the podium. The pace was quite similar. But could he have breached that gap? I don't know. 

"Definitely a missed opportunity for Marc, but his ride to fourth can be chalked up as one of his better ones of the season.”

“You could tell he was a bit annoyed that he didn't come away with two podiums,” Moreland said. 

“He referenced the Catalunya round, which was a bad weekend for him but he still ended up second in the Sprint and third in the Grand Prix. Austria was a good weekend but he left empty-handed. 

"It seems that it just goes either way for Marquez this season?”

Crash.net MotoGP editor Pete McLaren replied: “I think he needs to take a risk and go for the win if he gets a chance with his GP23. Marquez could have settled for a safe second in the Sprint but he saw there was a chance of catching Bagnaia and went for it.

“It didn't pay off, but what's another second place in a Sprint anyway for him? 

"The main Grand Prix is a more painful one, given it was one of his best weekends and it would have been interesting to see what he could do if he was with the top 3 from the start.

“But I don't think for one moment he threw away a guaranteed first Ducati win on Sunday. Let's put it into perspective: Pecco was in a class of his own, Martin is at the top of his game as well and Bastianini is another very strong rider on the GP24.

“So I don‘t see it as a victory thrown away for Marquez but it was clearly a missed opportunity - probably, as Lewis says, to fight with Bastianini for the final place on the podium. Maybe a bit better, who knows.”