One last lap that changed everything. One last lap that turned everything around. A last lap that could be worth a World Cup. The soft tire of Jorge Martín (Ducati Desmosedici GP23) said enough and he lost a lead of 3 seconds and four places to finish fifth. A real disaster resulting from a mistake that the Madrid driver acknowledged after the race.
"It hurts, it hurts me to miss opportunities, because if I hadn't fallen in Indonesia and had won today I would be over 18 and a leader. That's not the case and we have to adapt to the situation and give everything we have left," he highlighted in the round. post-race press release.
Martín pointed out that it was "another drama, really." "It hasn't been easy at all and especially in the last six laps. I saw that I didn't have any tire left, I tried to push as hard as I could but nothing, I opened the accelerator, which I couldn't, and it was like a 600 c.c., "I had no power, everything was going very badly."
"I have done what I could, I have tried to defend myself, but when they caught me I no longer had any weapons at all. This is another learning, it is clear that it makes me angry because I was stronger than the rest today, but well, another learning" . Jorge Martín insisted.
"It seemed like they had to catch me half a second per lap with four laps left and I said 'well, I'll do it anyway', but nothing. Having to be in that position and at that moment having to think that when I had three and a half seconds and "I was managing well, it was easy, it's a shame but hey, these are things that can happen," he added.
"I have gambled a lot with the soft tire, but it is clear that from now on I will not gamble and will do the same as my rivals do," said Jorge Martín.
Regarding the choice of tire, he acknowledged: "The last word is always mine, maybe I don't have that help sometimes and it's more of a feeling thing, I don't know. I don't know how to explain it, but it's one hundred percent mine, even though Maybe if I had a little more help in making that choice it would be easier, but it is what it is and during training I felt comfortable, I was just as fast with the soft one as with the intermediate one, even a little faster with the soft one and I thought that That would help me earn a lot."
"Maybe I have to improve in that aspect with Ducati and with Michelin and find someone to help me make that decision," he stressed.
In any case, Jorge Martín said he did not know "if he would have been able" to escape with the intermediate tire, because it also consumed a lot. "But it is clear that I would not have had that final crash if I had run out of tire, there would have been something left that I could have pulled with, but hey, we will know that next year because now it is no longer possible."
"In Indonesia it was worse because I was leading and now at least I'm done, I've led 26 laps and nothing, since I already saw it coming that they were catching me I couldn't do much either, but it hurts, it makes me angry. I was stronger again this 'weekend' but we have missed another opportunity," Martín lamented again.
In terms of the title, Jorge Martín does not throw in the towel. "You have to believe until the end, there are many races left, not many, but there are races left, points left and it still depends on me, if I win everything then I will be able to, it is not easy."
