MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez admits he still has ‘half an eye’ on Maverick Vinales in the title battle despite the Yamaha rider slipping 41 points adrift at Motegi.
Marquez left the Japanese Grand Prix with an 11-point lead after just missing out on victory in a titanic tussle with Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso.
The Spaniard concedes that Dovizioso is now his main challenger in the final three races of the season, but has not totally written off Vinales, who struggled to ninth in wet condition in Japan one week ago.
The Honda rider – who has only finished once at Phillip Island in the premier class – also said his approach to the final three races will not change, despite one mistake at this stage potentially being a fatal blow to his title aspirations.
“I mean, Dovi is the most dangerous one (in the championship),” said Marquez on Thursday at Phillip Island.
“But still (I have) half an eye looking (at) inales, because he is far but not far enough.
“So, yeah, of course we need to control a little bit more Dovi, but the strategy, the mentality is the same one: push, and if we can take one more point we will try, like we did in Motgi, until the last corner.”
Vinales admitted after the Motegi race that the championship was out of his control, and knows mistakes from Marquez and Dovizioso will be the only way he can come back into contention.
“For sure in Motegi was a difficult race,” said 2016 Phillip Island podium finisher Vinales.
“We try everything, we work 100 percent and finally we didn’t get any positive result. Now we have to forget, no pressure, continue riding as we were riding before.
“For sure (the championship is difficult), because in not in our hands.
“It’s very difficult, our opponents have to make a mistake, so it’s going to be very difficult.
“But, anyway, as I said now we just gonna try to enjoy, bring the Yamaha on the maximum level and try to repeat another win.”
With the championship almost out of reach for Vinales now, the Spaniard has turned his attentions to the 2018 season.
The weather forecast for this weekend is typically unpredictable for Phillip Island but, while preferring the rain to stay away, Vinales admits Yamaha need more wet track time to improve on its issues in such conditions in view to next year.
“For sure, we hope for a dry race, because it’s where our bike is competitive,” he said.
“But on the wet we have to improve. If we are looking forward also for next year we have to make an improvement there.
“We’ve been struggling in all the conditions, especially on the wet, in the last races, but it’s like this.”
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