On the last lap in Sepang, Franco Morbidelli pushes past Aleix Espargaro and is penalised – Espargaro doesn’t understand the Italian’s behaviour
There was a stink between two riders after the MotoGP race in Malaysia. On the last lap, Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha) pushed past Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) on the inside at turn 14 of the Sepang circuit. There was contact. It was the duel for tenth place.
Morbidelli finally crossed the finish line in tenth place, followed by Espargaro. The race stewards imposed three penalty seconds for this manoeuvre. Therefore, the order of the two was reversed in the result.
“I don’t know what he is doing this season. I don’t understand it. Is he here, or on another planet?”, Espargaro finds clear words. “He gets penalties in almost every Grand Prix, but he keeps doing stupid things. “
Morbidelli was already penalised on Saturday. In the third practice session he rode slowly on the racing line and thus hindered Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Marc Marquez (Honda). In the race, Morbidelli had to take the long-lap penalty twice.
Aleix Espargaro calls for tougher penalties
It wasn’t his first penalty this year for the Italian impeding other riders. “In Thailand he already hit me twice in the fight for eleventh place,” Espargaro said. “I didn’t understand that. “
“Now he hit me super hard in the fight for tenth place. I don’t know why we didn’t crash. They gave him three penalty seconds. That’s okay because I got one place and one World Championship point back.”
“But actually they should let him start from the back, or from the pit lane. They penalised him, but he doesn’t change. It’s crazy! I don’t understand it. I was very lucky not to crash. “
Morbidelli calls for fundamental discussions
Morbidelli sees things completely differently: “I got a penalty again for a normal overtaking manoeuvre on the penultimate corner of the last lap.” Since he can’t overtake on the straight with the Yamaha, he had to try it in other places.
“I hope this overtaking manoeuvre will be shown a lot on social media and on TV. So that people can see what mistake the race stewards made. They are human and can make mistakes. “
“But it is important that we discuss how such decisions are made. We all need to sit down and discuss it,” the 2020 runner-up feels. “Something is not working properly.”
The Italian is calling for fundamental discussions with race control and the race stewards. Both panels are regularly criticised. Race control was recently criticised for not stopping the Moto2 race in Australia after Jorge Navarro’s accident.
Morbidelli: Race stewards under huge pressure
And the race stewards often make different penalties for similar offences. There is a lack of consistency. Furthermore, there are no explanations as to why the race stewards make which decisions
That’s why Morbidelli demands, “I think the time has really come for us to sit down and talk about it openly. Even if they make a right decision, then there is no dialogue with the race stewards.”
“I think they are under a lot of pressure. And I don’t think they can handle that pressure. There are these comments on social media and on TV. That’s the way our world is today. I don’t think they are balancing things properly.”
“That’s why there has to be conversations and dialogues to correct these mechanisms. It’s about making sure there’s a balance between rider safety and the show.” Every race weekend there is the safety committee meeting on Friday. However, often not many drivers take advantage of this opportunity.
