Valentino Rossi’s critical verdict on MotoGP Stewards after Jorge Martin ruling
Martin caused a six-rider pile-up at Turn 1 of the Austrian MotoGP sprint race - wiping three rivals out of the race - but did not receive a punishment until hours later.
He was allowed to keep his podium finish and was hit with a long lap penalty for the next day’s grand prix, although confusion arose because Fabio Quartararo was penalised in-race for a far smaller incident with Lorenzo Savadori.
"I don't understand why something like this should be decided at the end of the race,” MotoGP legend Rossi said to Sky.
“There Martin simply started super charged because this morning he had not made the time, he had the soft [tyre], he knew that in the first corners he had to be crazy, but he did a little too crazy.
“He arrived strong, touched Quartararo and triggered the [incident] that caused three or four riders to fall.
“In my opinion it's very simple, they should have immediately given a long lap to Martin, that's it.”
Mooney VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi was taken out of the race by the incident involving Martin.
Later, Bezzecchi’s teammate Luca Marini fell out of the race when overtaken by Martin - although it was deemed a racing incident, it might not have happened if the Pramac rider had already been punished.
Rossi fumed: “It's not that you have to wait for the end of the race, which then Martin arrives on Luca, also lays down Luca and even there he waits to decide. Then the race should be redone.
“The Steward Panel seems to me very fast and decisive for the things that matter little, like they gave a long lap to Quartararo who instead of 13th finished 14th.
“Instead, in important things, someone like Martin who is second in the world championship and who arrives at the first corner too strong clearing everyone, they wait to decide, as if they had to talk to someone else first.”
Marini had previously claimed: “The problem is that it's not clear, another time, about why and in which case the Stewards take the decision about the penalties.
“Because in my opinion, Jorge must not be there in that moment [with me] because of what already happened in Turn 1.
“So it's strange what happened after Turn 1. The Stewards didn't take any decision, while with Fabio they took a decision very quickly to give him a long lap penalty.
“I think that if what happened in Turn 1 needed a penalty, then my incident would not have happened.”
James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, to F1.
