Marc Marquez insists he wasn’t being affected by tyre pressure issues during his Indonesian Grand Prix battle with Pedro Acosta.
Acosta passed Marquez on lap seven at Mandalika but had to let him back through when his pressure dropped below the legal parameters. The pair would then repeatedly trade positions in what was arguably a farcical spectacle.
The future Ducati teammates finished fifth and sixth respectively behind Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura.
Marc Marquez: I didn’t have tyre pressure issues during Indonesian GP
Speaking to outlets including Motorsport.com, Acosta theorised that Marquez was having the ‘same problems’ during their battle.
Claiming the issue made riders ‘look like donkeys’, Acosta called for a change to the rules that would see tyre pressures measured only at the start of the race, rather than live.
“We look like donkeys,” he said. “I think that [Marquez] was having the same problems as me, because he let me pass also.
“I think we should have a minimum pressure before starting on the grid, and then what happens is what happens. You cannot do anything.
“I was struggling the whole race with the front tyre pressure and I was losing massive time, letting Marc pass, then overtaking him again, then letting him pass again, then starting to pass him.”
However, in an interview with Sky Sports Italy, Marquez clarified that he wasn’t letting Acosta by on purpose and that the back-and-forth ‘battle’ simply reflected the performance levels of his Ducati, even though he offered minimal resistance.
“I didn’t have pressure issues,” he said. “Simply, it was like that all weekend.
“We were in that position, between fifth and seventh place, but yesterday we did something unplanned: securing pole position in qualifying and winning the Sprint Race.”
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Acosta’s fellow KTM rider, Maverick Vinales, received a 16-second penalty for breaching tyre pressure rules, but it didn’t affect his position because he finished last.
Marquez’s title rival Jorge Martin lost a victory in Saturday’s Sprint race when a tyre pressure warning forced him to slow down and pick up a slipstream from another bike.
Michelin’s spell as MotoGP’s tyre supplier will conclude at the end of the year, with Pirelli arriving at the start of 2027.
The French company developed a new front tyre prototype for 2026 designed to mitigate the problem, but there was little appetite among the riders and teams to test it.
Source: MGP