I arrived at Aragon knowing it was going to be a tough track. Last year we struggled a lot here, and I had no reason to expect anything different. But no — I worked well together with all my guys and we were fast from Friday. Pole position with a new lap record, double podium in Sprint and race. A weekend I wasn’t expecting like this.

That said — the knee is still giving me trouble, more than the shoulder at this point. It’s a nuisance, but I’m managing.

Saturday, pole and Sprint. At Turn 1 I braked a little too early, my mistake, and Marc was ready to seize the moment — he always is. I found myself on the outside, with Alex taking advantage to slot in. I lost two positions in a second. Third. On the tyre: I was convinced by the soft, it had worked well all day, and I’m not sure the medium would have changed the result — if anything, it might have been worse.

Sunday, starting from pole. Again Marc got me at the first braking point, but he stayed with the ride-height device engaged and I took the lead back. I led the first six laps, trying to build something. At the chicane Marc attacked — on the exit it looked like I had the advantage, but we ended up side by side on the straight at over 300 km/h. Honestly I wanted to make life a little harder for him, and for Pedro too. But I lost both positions in a couple of seconds.

On the straight we got close in a strange way — the aerodynamics were doing weird things, I kept coming closer to him even when I was trying to move away. Marc said at the microphones that in those moments you don’t think about your mother, you don’t think about the dog — you just think about who will brake later. He’s right.

Third place. Same result as the Sprint, same podium. Marc had a perfect weekend — credit to him.

It was an important weekend because I rode well, I enjoyed myself, and I realised that I can always be in the fight.

Misano in a few days. Home, again.

Can’t wait.