Marco Bezzecchi reveals Aprilia is "still far away" after Jerez struggles

Aprilia Racing rider Marco Bezzecchi has given his insight into the team's struggles during the first day of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

The Italian finished 13th in the free practice session in the morning and 12th in practice 1, meaning that he hasn't secured a spot in Q2 tomorrow.

Although the 26-year-old confirmed that some improvements had been made, he outlined the issues the team was still struggling with. He explained:

"We made some improvements during the day even if we are still struggling, plus there were some yellow flags in the second time attack, so I couldn't improve. To get into Q2 I would have had to lower my time by a tenth. Ifs and buts don't make history, but I would have tried.

"Overall there was some progress, but we are still far away, so there will be work to do this evening. Is Q2 doable tomorrow? That is the goal and I will give everything to succeed."

The Italian rider continued:

"We improved from morning to afternoon, but we still suffer with the new tyres. In my first attempt, I took a lot of risks and I was able to do a good time, but then, as I said, the yellow flags bothered me.

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

"Evidently, I was in the wrong place, but I gave it my all. We are still a bit lacking in terms of stability in braking and acceleration, so we will have to find a solution."

Despite the difficulties with stability and tyres, Bezzecchi claimed that Jerez circuit is "fantastic and now much safer in some corners."

"After the flood, they did a great job," he added. "Being a narrow track, with close corners and coming from a layout as wide as a highway like Lusail, it is not easy for our bike in light of the current problems, but this is what it is, and we will have to roll up our sleeves to fix everything. 

"On some circuits, the bike reacts better than on others. In Doha, as here, Friday proved to be more complex than in Austin or Thailand. In the tests, we reached a good level, while the others hid. From then on, there weren't many changes; in any case, we will continue to work to try to make progress. 

"Where the stability problem comes from, on entry, as on exit, I don't know exactly. I think it's the result of a mix of aspects. For this reason, at the moment, I'm not asking the team for anything specific, but together with the technicians, we are analysing to find a solution."