Despite another frustrating MotoGP weekend in Austria, Alex Marquez has asserted Francesco Bagnaia is “really close” to the breakthrough he needs.
Gresini Rider finished second in the Red Bull Ring Sprint for the Marc Marquez brothers, but his fellow front row qualifier Bagnaia retired due to rear tire issues.
Alex then backed himself up to lose a big point to Bagnaia at the Grand Prix due to a long rap penalty that was taken over from Brno.
Sanctions dropped Marquez at 10th, but Bagnaia got a little better, moving from 2nd to 8th to 8th.
Thus, Alex scored seven points in the Austrian double champion, expanding his advantage to 55 points in the runner-up battle in the title.
Looking back at Bagnaia’s situation, Alex portrayed his past struggle with the GP23:
“It happened to me in the past. I arrived at a point where I said, ‘Do we need to do better? What needs to be changed?’ And I didn’t know.
“But I think he’s there. I think it’s an emotional issue, or a matter of completing the weekend in the right way, or a matter of victory. I think it changes the clicks of his character and all of that.
“So I think he’s really close because he was really fast in every session.
“He’s really close to clicking, and I always say Pecco is a really great champion. I think he’s a real champion. I think he’s going to be there from now until the end.
“He needs to take that step and complete that perfect weekend to believe in himself.”
“Mark Marquez is on another level right now.”
Meanwhile, Mark Marquez won his first ever Red Bull Ring and won his 12 consecutive wins, earning a 142-point lead in the championship.
“Mark is on a different level right now. Compared to the beginning of the season, he took another step in his riding style,” said Alex.
“We had that advantage at the beginning of the year when we had a normal preseason.
“But now they’re under control and they’re introducing an introduction (update), they’re having an advantage again.”
Without the long knee penalty, Alex estimated he finished fourth on Sunday when rookie teammate Fermin Aldeguir was surprised at second place.
“I liked finishing the race, taking a quick shot and not making another mistake,” explained Alex, who endured the first pointless weekend of the season in the previous Brno round.