Marquez Supports Bagnaia: “He is smart enough to pull himself together”

While championship calculations were being made in the MotoGP paddock, Marc Marquez came to the Balaton Park track and gave frank answers to questions about Pecco Bagnaia's difficult period.

Márquez expressed his belief in his teammate's potential, saying: "Pecco has brought two championships to Ducati and will be here again next year. He can still give a lot to Ducati. But when an athlete enters a spiral where things are not going well, a loss of confidence begins."

“When a driver loses confidence, he starts losing 30 milliseconds with each braking stop. That translates to two tenths of a second at the end of a lap, which translates to an eighth-place finish in a race.” Referring to Bagnaia’s disappointment in Austria last weekend, Márquez emphasized that Pecco still has pace: “Pecco is showing his speed, otherwise he wouldn’t have been fastest in Austria on Friday. The same thing happened to me last year; I had to rebuild. Pecco is smart enough to absorb what happened to him. He’ll recover eventually.”

Marc Marquez is seen as one of the biggest contenders for victory at Balaton this weekend, with the left-hander-heavy track and his ability to adapt quickly to new conditions expected to be in his favour.

"One of my strengths has always been adapting quickly to new and different conditions. The tests will help the Ducati riders, especially in the first practice sessions. But there are no big secrets on this track. As with all karting tracks, the differences won't be huge, and neither will the bikes."

After the media conference, Marquez received private lessons from young Hungarian Ádám Hidvégi, who can complete the Rubik's Cube in six seconds.