The Honda rider decided to stay on track with a slick-shod bike long after the rain had hit the circuit and after most of his rivals had pitted to switch to a bike with rain tyres.

In the end, Marquez crashed in the difficult conditions while leading.

He managed to return to the track and change bikes, but finished down in 13th position.

The Spaniard said in hindsight he should have pitted earlier.

“Today’s race was difficult because I, like many other riders in MotoGP, had never experienced track conditions like this before,” said Marquez.

“I think that we did a good job all weekend – it was just a pity about the crash.

“I tried to hold on because there were only a few laps remaining, but today I learned that in these situations it is better to use a different strategy.”

Team-mate Dani Pedrosa followed the same strategy and he too ended up crashing.

Pedrosa conceded he had made a mistake too.

“I made the wrong decision about when to come in to change bikes and didn’t make the switch on the lap that I should have,” he said. “My tyres couldn’t hold out any longer and I crashed.

“Luckily I was able to remount and pick up two points from this race. It is a little disappointing to have gone so far and not taken a good result, but these experiences are useful for learning and heading to the next race stronger.”