Pol Espargaró: "For wanting more, in the end I have been left with nothing"

In his first year in the official Honda team, things are not going as expected for Pol Espargaró, who this weekend has managed to show he has speed, but at the moment of truth a fall prevented him from discussing the pole of the Grand Prix of France to Fabio Quartararo.

“Obviously I would like to have a dry race. I was hoping to have the speed in that condition and here we have one of the best on the grid, but at Le Mans you can’t make plans, you can’t think too much because the weather changes in 15 minutes. You cannot think about whether you are better in the dry or wet, because when it changes it sinks you and creates insecurity. It’s going to be the same for everyone, so you have to get the tires right and have a good race. If it’s dry we have a good speed, I would like to have a good race with the Honda”, said Polyccio.

“I am self-critical because the fastest lap in Q2 was not very fast. I think if I hadn’t fallen I would have made a good time. Sometimes I push myself too hard and force myself to make things happen, and today I didn’t need to force myself. I didn’t have to risk to be in the front line. I didn’t have to fall. It came better than those in the front row, but I didn’t finish the lap. It’s my total mistake.”

Looking ahead to this Sunday’s race, Pol considers that he is ready and has the speed, but starting 8th from the third row of the grid will penalize him.

“I don’t know how far I can go. Starting eighth is difficult. The one that starts first (Quartararo) is the one that, in addition, is faster in the dry. If I had started with Fabio, I would have been able to hold out for most of the laps, but if I start eighth and amuse myself in the first few laps, I don’t know if I’ll be able to overcome the two seconds that I’m going to lose at the beginning with those in front”.

“I am very angry because today we could have taken pole or a front row and that would have been important for everyone’s morale, but even more so because I made things difficult for myself without needing to do so due to the crash”.

#44 was very angry, but he has things clear.

“Things are clear to us. We have been ahead in all the training sessions. The pace is easy for me, I’m fast, we’ve had some crashes, but I think I know where the limit is, and if I can control it I have the pace to have a good race”.

“I’m calm with myself because I think we’re getting there, I’m fast, but it doesn’t work out, we didn’t finish putting it all together in one lap, and that makes us anxious and angry. Today the fastest lap was not so fast and it was not necessary to risk so much in the first sector, and because I wanted more in the end I was left with nothing. Starting eighth makes things very difficult for me, but with the good feelings I have I will try to have a good race”.