Mir: "Quartararo didn't deserve a penalty"
Quartararo ran out of space and tangled with Oliveira and Marco Bezzecchi on entry to Turn 2.
The Frenchman then fell and brought down the luckless Oliveira on the outside, who was left with a dislocated shoulder.
The race was stopped to attend to the fallen riders. Then, just as 24 hours earlier when team-mate Franco Morbidelli was penalised for contact with Alex Marquez on the exit of the same corner, Quartararo received a Long Lap penalty.
Like many, 2020 world champion Mir was surprised to learn of the sanction.
“For the crash?!” Mir asked, his voice rising with incredulity. “What I see there is that Bezzecchi [on the inside] was going left [to the outside], to open the line. If you open the line in the first lap, you know that you will have other riders there.
“So for me, Fabio doesn't have any fault. The same as Oliveira. Fabio was a consequence of the manoeuvre of another rider.
“This year [the FIM Stewards] gave me some penalties that were not… So I'm not the perfect person to ask about these types of things. But being realistic and everything, Fabio doesn't deserve a penalty.”
Quizzed on why MotoGP had seen red flags on the opening lap of both the Sprint and main race, while Moto2 and Moto3 began without incident, the Repsol Honda rider added:
“This track is very narrow. At the beginning, I felt like in a traffic jam where the first car brakes, then another one brakes, then another… You have to brake like in the middle of the straight almost. And this also creates a lot of confusion.
“But sometimes, – I said this in the Safety Commission - looks like the Stewards only watch the guys where the camera is pointing. Then the rest doesn't matter. The penalties there don't exist.”
However, Mir, who fell on the restart, did agree with Quartararo's second Long Lap penalty, for straying across the white line as he rejoined the track while serving the first.
“Well, this at the end is the rules. So if they are like this in everything [consistent] it's good… Next time you will be more careful.”
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
