Marquez: The winning strategy for Spielberg? I wouldn't know!
What is the best strategy to win a grand prix at the Red Bull Ring? It's not often you'll hear this, but 'I don't know as I have never done it' is the honest answer from MotoGP champion Marc Marquez.
The Austrian track is the only circuit on the current calendar aside from Portimao (where Marquez has raced just once, on his return from injury earlier this year) that the 83-time grand prix winner has not yet been victorious at.
That's not to say he hasn’t come close. Extremely close. Finishing second to the Ducatis of Andrea Dovizioso or Jorge Lorenzo by the tiniest of margins in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Nonetheless, Marquez is the first to admit he hasn't yet been able to compete the job: "To be honest, I must confess that I don't know what the best race strategy is to win at Spielberg, as I have never done it at this circuit."
Despite his past disappointments, Austria is the kind of 'natural' track he loves: "Spielberg has the most beautiful natural environment, as it does Phillip Island.
"I really like the racetracks that follow the natural terrain and Spielberg is one of them," Marquez said. "There are big slopes and you have to understand at all times if a turn is with camber, or if you’re entering a corner going downhill and then as you go up on the exit the weight transfers on the bike are quite noticeable.
"If you put the Spielberg track on flat terrain it wouldn't have the same [rewards], but with big ups and downs the races there are very nice. You also have to manage the tyres and fuel consumption well because it tends to be quite high."
Still recovering from last season's arm-injury complications, plus handling difficulties with the Honda RC213V, Marquez starts the second half of the season with his emotional Sachsenring win as the clear standout moment of 2021 so far.
It's also been his only podium appearance of the year, but Marquez – tenth in the world championship after missing the opening two rounds and falling in three of the other seven - feels there has been a general upward trend of late.
"I don't have high expectations [for Austria]. I just want to see how I feel and if I have improved in terms of sensations, physically and with the arm too," he said.
"From that point on, we'll see.
"I hope we continue the same line as the last races since Mugello. Montmeló was not a good result, but the line was ascending and every time I feel better with the bike. So we have to continue in this way."
