Marc Marquez edged past Jorge Martin to win the Qatar MotoGP sprint on Saturday after a collision with Marco Bezzecchi at Turn 1 on the fourth lap took the Aprilia rider out of the race. The clash sparked disagreement between the two riders about who was at fault.
Bezzecchi approached Turn 1 closely behind Marquez, who took his usual wide line before returning to the late apex. The Aprilia rider appeared on the inside unexpectedly, resulting in contact that sent Bezzecchi crashing out. Marquez survived the incident despite his airbag deploying and kept his composure to hold off Martin for the victory.
Race stewards ruled the incident a racing incident, but both riders gave contrasting accounts afterward. Marquez blamed Bezzecchi’s misjudgement of his own speed, saying the Italian underestimated how slow Marquez was going compared to him. “Bezzecchi is steps faster than everybody here. He didn’t realise that we are slow like we are. I mean, we are fast, but he is much faster!” Marquez said.
He compared the clash to an earlier incident at the 2025 Indonesian Grand Prix where Bezzecchi also collided with him while carrying more speed into a fast corner. “If you check the helicopter cameras, my Turn 1 was exactly the same on that lap and the next ones. I always go a bit wide and try to close the line,” Marquez added.
Bezzecchi rejected Marquez’s comparison and said he did not agree with the Spanish rider’s explanation. “It’s not super fair to take out one completely different episode,” Bezzecchi said. “I respect what he says. I personally don’t agree because it’s completely different. But it doesn’t matter too much right now.”
The Aprilia rider said he tried his line on the inside but ended up on the ground a second later. “So, it’s something that can happen,” he added. Asked if he was angry, Bezzecchi said he preferred to conserve his energy for Sunday’s race: “At the end, I would be wasting my energy for nothing. It’s out of my control. It’s not something that I have to decide… so, let’s try to keep our focus on the race for tomorrow.”
Marquez said he was not sure how close he came to falling after the contact. “I just felt the contact and poof, [the airbag] deployed. But I don’t know if my bike was shaking a lot or not. I was super concentrated. And when I’m concentrated, I don’t feel what the bike is doing,” he said.
The airbag deployment left Marquez unable to ride properly for three or four corners, allowing Martin to overtake him, which Marquez said was no surprise. Despite this, Marquez managed to recover and hold onto first place until the end of the sprint.
Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, Marquez put the spotlight on Bezzecchi as the favourite, pointing out that the Italian would start from pole position. “Tomorrow, if nothing strange happens, Marco will win the race. Because he’s faster than everybody,” Marquez said. The focus now shifts to whether Bezzecchi can bounce back after Saturday’s incident and validate Marquez’s prediction.
According to Yahoo Sports.
