Jack Miller ‘waiting for an aeroplane crash’ between Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez

After early contact on lap one coming out of turn five, Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia again did battle in the closing stages of the grand prix.

Bagnaia, who had already been passed by Pedro Acosta after struggling as the race went on, was then attacked by Marquez into turn five with a couple of laps remaining. 

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But determined not to five up the position, Bagnaia snapped straight back on the inside of the eight-time world champion, the problem, Marquez had barely ran off-line which meant contact was made as they both went down.

Speaking about the incident, Miller already had concerns early in the race: "I kind of could because early on in the race when we went out of Turn 5 those two were absolutely banging each other.

“Coming out of Turn 5 they hit each other and every time they probably touched three or four times through the acceleration through six.

“Every time they hit the one on the outside was losing the front and the one on the inside was almost highsiding and I was behind trying to obviously go with the group, but I was just waiting for an absolute aeroplane crash in front of me.

"There was no love lost there, they're all pushing hard at the beginning as we all were, but it obviously all boiled over there at the end.

“It's a hard place to pass this track, to pass nicely, and it's unfortunate what happened but that's racing and I'm sure those boys will be back to fight in Texas."

Miller wasn’t the only rider to share his views on the dramatic crash as Aleix Espargaro called it a racing incident, with the caveat being Bagnaia could have done more to avoid it.

Espargaro added: "I saw it in a replay. For me it’s a racing incident. It’s always a difficult corner to negotiate.

“But I think Pecco could give a bit more space to Marc in order to avoid the contact.”

Enea Bastianini, who had out-performed Bagnaia throughout the entire grand prix, was surprised when he watched the clash in the cooldown room post-race.

When speaking about the crash between his fellow Ducati riders, Bastianini was keen not to lay blame on any side.

"I don’t know what really happened,” stated Bastianini. “But as you’re fighting, it’s always difficult to overtake and this kind of contact can happen."