Pecco Bagnaia criticised for “bizarre” error; told to “respect” tricky corner

Francesco Bagnaia was told he should “respect” the toughest corner in Barcelona, and was criticised for the manner of his crash from the sprint race.

Bagnaia was the third leader of the Saturday sprint at the Catalunya MotoGP - after Raul Fernandez and Brad Binder - to fall out of the race.

It allowed Aleix Espargaro to win but, crucially for Bagnaia, saw him fall six points further behind in the title fight to leader Jorge Martin.

TNT Sports’ Neil Hodgson analysed his crash: “Unforced error, bizarre. With 0.7s lead, you do not do that!

“Absolutely incredible. It’s a tricky corner, the hardest corner on the track. But you know that! It’s the danger corner. It’s ‘crash corner’.

“Treat it with respect. Lose a tenth there, it’s okay! You’ve got 0.7s lead, then go defensive near the end of the lap, and you win the race.

“I can’t believe what I have seen.

“That is a turning point in the championship. He is now a lot of points behind.

“I know it’s only round six. But you can’t be giving away big points like that.”

Sylvain Guintoli added: “On the last lap, if you are bored, 0.7s…

“You just don’t normally make those kinds of mistakes.

“I know Aleix was keeping the pressure on. But, at this level, Pecco should be able to make a clean lap. Three or four tenths off what he can do, and still get away with it.

“There is absolutely no chance that P2 is going to get seven tenths on you, and be able to attack as well.

“This just highlights how tricky the track conditions were. And how easy it was to make a mistake.

“But this was an unforced error from Pecco. He won’t be happy with this.”

Bagnaia came to Barcelona second in the MotoGP standings, 38 points from Martin.

But Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini have overtaken Bagnaia now, who slips to fourth, 44 points from the top ahead of Sunday’s grand prix.