Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez has said Valentino Rossi is wrong to brand him dangerous and his clash with the Italian was brought about by track conditions.

Marquez and Rossi collided in the final laps of today’s Argentina race with The Doctor ending up on his backside but Marquez said he had locked his front brake on a wet patch. He added the biggest error he made was hitting Aleix Espargaro a few laps earlier.

“Maybe the biggest mistake I did was with Aleix. I arrive four seconds faster and I didn’t realise, but I try my 100 per cent to avoid the contact but then I say sorry. OK, then I receive penalty, I understand, one position, even two to be safe and then I start to push again,” said Marquez, speaking at the track.

“Then the second thing was with Valentino. There I don’t think I make anything crazy. You need to understand how were the track conditions. It was dry but I take a wet patch, lock the front, release the brakes and had contact. When I see him crash I just try to say sorry but if you check, Zarco with Dani, Petrucci with Aleix, today was quite difficult. I did my 100 per cent in a tricky day.

“Today I did a few mistakes, a few were race direction, a few were mine, I recognise this and will try to improve for the future.”

Responding to Rossi’s comments earlier in the evening, Marquez said simply: “In my career I never go straight for one rider thinking he will crash. Always I try to avoid. Sometimes it is closer, sometimes it’s more clear. Today what happened with Valentino was a mistake but a consequence of the track conditions as I lock the front but what he say is wrong.”

Marquez was given a ride through penalty for not going to pitlane after stalling on the grid, a one place position drop for his clash with Espargaro and was then docked 30s at the finish for the Rossi incident, or for the cumulative errors.