Marc Marquez revealed that "many, many problems with the front brake" were the cause of his slump to fifth in MotoGP's Austrian Grand Prix.
Marquez dropped to fourth from second on the grid on the opening lap of Sunday's race, and fell as low as seventh after running well wide at Turn 1 while chasing fourth-placed Ai Ogura.
The Ducati rider recovered to finish inside the top five at the chequered flag, and revealed his issue came with the front brake lever point being inconsistent throughout the first half of the race.
"The problem is that the first part of the race I had many, many problems with the front brake, for that reason I went wide in Turn 1. The front lever was unconstant, every brake point was in one way," Marquez explained.
"When I had the mistake in Turn 1, I braked and it was empty, there was nothing there, and for that reason I went super wide - not a little bit - super wide.
"I feel like today we were very lucky, because in one point of the race I saw that 'OK, I cannot continue'. But then, brakes from one lap to the other started to work, and then I started to be faster again, and gain some positions, but obviously it was too late.
"The good thing, the positive thing, is that it's something that you can see on data, so they can analyse and try to have some solution for the future."
Marquez further clarified he had no issues with "shaking" after brake supplier Brembo had worked on the issues the riders had struggled with between Turns 7 and 9.
However, the issue with his braking meant he was overthinking into every braking zone that cost him time to "fight for the podium", with Marquez believing he could have challenged title rivals Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi for second place before feeling "lucky" to return to the top five.
Marquez was far from the only Ducati rider to struggle with the issue, as Gresini's Fermin Aldeguer admitted he also had inconsistent problems with his front brake while Marquez's works team-mate Pecco Bagnaia found it difficult to make his bike turn.
“I had also a lot of problems in my front brake, it wasn't constant. In some corner I arrived without brakes, something strange,” Aldeguer said after hearing his fellow Ducati riders speak of their issues.
Bagnaia further explained: “It was difficult to make the bike turn because the bike wasn't accelerating the way I wanted and when I was trying to enter in a better way I was still on the brakes to stop the bike, but it was quite tough.”
The result meant Marquez dropped a further nine points behind Martin in the riders' standings, after conceding three by finishing second to the Aprilia rider in the sprint race to leave him 12 behind at the end of the weekend.
"The rest of the track was consistent, but we had a big issue, for that reason in the first lap I was not hard on the brake points, I was just trying to understand where the front lever was at every brake point, and then I was losing a lot there.
"Today the maximum position was second/third but in the end we finished fifth, so that's it."
from The Race https://ift.tt/pnzhN1a
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