Martin endured an eventful grand prix at the Buddh International Circuit on his way to second, as his leathers opened during the race before he started to suffer from severe dehydration.
In the second half of the grand prix, Martin’s Pramac leathers had unzipped partially, but he avoided a penalty for not having his safety equipment fully secured as he quickly rectified the situation.
However, he admitted on Thursday ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix that it wasn’t until he saw himself on the big screens lining the Buddh track that he elected to fix the problem.
Martin also noted that no malfunction had occurred on his Alpinestars leathers, and that the problem was of his own making as he didn’t properly fasten up his suit prior to the race.
“We studied a bit with Alpinestars and I didn’t close it correctly,” Martin – who is just 13 points off the championship lead coming to Motegi - said about his leather suit opening.
“Eight laps, nine laps to go I started to feel like it was open. So, it started to open slowly and I tried to finish like this, because I thought maybe nobody would see it.
“But as soon as I saw on the big screen that it was opened, I just tried to close it.
“I tried on the straight, it didn’t work. So, I tried again in corner 11. I lost just one second and I was able to gain a bit on Fabio [Quartararo] after that.”
Source: Autosport