Marquez threw away "easy" Argentina win

Marquez became embroiled in controversy at Termas de Rio Hondo, earning a ride-through penalty for illegally starting on the grid after stalling his bike and then getting into further trouble with the stewards for collisions with Aleix Espargaro and Valentino Rossi.

Rossi accused Marquez afterwards of deliberately riding into him and “destroying the sport”, although the Honda rider insisted his attempt to pass for sixth was “nothing crazy”.

Asked for his thoughts on the controversy, Dovizioso refused to comment directly, but did point out that Marquez’s pace in Argentina meant the reigning champion should have been able to win easily.

“Marc managed things particularly badly, because when you are on a track where you are a second faster than everyone in all conditions, it should be easy to get the maximum result,” he said.

“He did everything he didn’t have to do.”

Dovizioso finished a distant seventh on the road in Argentina - which became sixth after Marquez was handed a 30-second penalty - losing the lead of the championship to race winner Cal Crutchlow.

The Italian, who won last month's season opener Qatar, said the result confirmed that the Desmosedici still has weak tracks that could hinder Ducati’s quest to win its first title in 11 years.

“We confirmed our downsides on the flyaway tracks, and we can’t afford this if we want to fight for the championship, because there are too many competitive riders and you’ll lose too many points,” he said.

“The improvements we made this winter were not enough in this aspect.

“Austin is on paper not a favourable track, but I hope it is better than this. We have to see how the condition of the track is, because last year there were a lot of bumps, which were very annoying.”

Additional reporting by Federico Faturos