Marquez: "Everything was wrong" in Sepang qualifying

Marquez, who is leading the championship by 33 points over Andrea Dovizioso, endured a problematic Saturday, only just scraping through to Q2 with the ninth-best time in third practice.

Despite topping FP4, the Spaniard ended up crashing at the final turn during his first flyer in the qualifying, forcing him to race back to the pits and return on his second bike.

Marquez said his feeling on his number two machine was not the same, and he only took seventh, the second-worst qualifying result of his MotoGP career and his worst of the year.

"Of course it [Sepang] is not one of the best tracks but it is true also that today everything was wrong," said Marquez.

"Everything, we went right, it was not the correct direction then we went left, but was too late so everything was difficult, going the opposite way.

"In FP4 I started to feel again the feeling with the bike, but the thing is when I went out in Q2, I went out with that bike, I crashed with the first tyre.

"Then I think with the other bike the feeling was not the same, also I did a not do a good lap, and for that reason we are seventh."

Not fast enough for the win

Should Marquez finish first or second in the race, he would be guaranteed to take the title regardless of what Dovizioso does.

However, the Honda rider admitted his teammate and polesitter Dani Pedrosa and Dovizioso both have better pace than him, and said he can only fight for third place.

"Honestly speaking we don't have the rhythm to win the race at the moment but we have the rhythm I think to fight for the podium," he admitted.

"Looks like at the moment Dani and Dovi have the best rhythm and then I am among a few riders that we can fight for the podium."

Pedrosa ended up topping qualifying, which Marquez believes is a result of the Sepang layout suiting his teammate's style better.

Asked what makes the Malaysian track so hard for him, he replied: "Maybe the hot conditions, maybe it's because you need to ride very smooth and I'm an aggressive rider.

"I try to concentrate to be smoother but it's quite difficult. Also the speed of our bike on the straight is not the best one.

"You can say Dani has the same bike but Dani in some circuits have some difficulties, he is struggling much more than me.

"For example in this circuit for his riding style, his weight on the straight, he is able to be very fast every year, and I try to learn from him because he is riding very well."

Additional reporting by Oriol Puigdemont