Explained: The true horror of how a MotoGP crash feels

The highside is a scary and dangerous moment in MotoGP. Marc Marquez notably was flung into the air and came down with a bang in Indonesia this year.

MotoGP riders and legends of the paddock have told BT Sport what a big highside truly feels like, and tried to explain the sheer feeling of horror…

Fabio Quartararo: "It is the most dangerous crash you can have in MotoGP. I once landed on my feet and broke both bones."

Randy Mamola: "It happens so quickly, you just hope that you don’t leave the bike. You are like a cartoon character trying to grab onto something!"

John McGuinness: "There is no way of sugarcoating a highside. Horrible, horrible. Waiting for the impact is the worst bit, as you fly through the air.

"My biggest one was when I broke my hip at Oulton Park - it was a really amateur crash. It flicked me into next week! I landed on my hip, broke my femur, it was unpleasant! I have three big screws in my hip which remind me everyday. It is like a toothache in winter.

"It isn’t safe - racing is not safe. We believe it is safe, we think it is safe, we have airbag technology."

Aleix Espargaro: "You can do a highside quite easily especially if the track is quite slippery. The only thing worse is when you crash in the middle of the track and a bike hits you. It is difficult, in that case, to protect riders."

Jack Miller: "It just shoots you through the moon. It’s not fun. As you leave the seat you immediately feel the airbag deployed as you fly through the air upside-down. It gives you a tiny bit of relief that there is something between you and the asphalt as you hit."

Niall MacKenzie: "Everything goes into slow motion. It’s not like ‘bang, you’re on the floor’. Your thought process slows down. Sometimes it’s okay, sometimes it’s not."