Marc Marquez Silverstone crash “strange”; Pecco Bagnaia “living on the edge”

The crashes of Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia from Saturday’s sprint at Silverstone have been assessed - and judged as unfortunate.

Marquez and Bagnaia saw their sprint race at the British MotoGP end prematurely, allowing title rival Jorge Martin to steal a march by finishing P2 behind Enea Bastianini.

Marquez was fourth when he crashed out at the final chicane.

“He overcooked it a bit,” said TNT Sports’ Sylvain Guintoli.

“The weekend hadn’t started well for him.

“He came in really quick with loads of weight on the front tyre. He loses it.

“He was pushing but didn’t have the pace for the podium. He was struggling since the start of the weekend, complaining about the front end.”

Neil Hodgson replied: “I was surprised with that crash, with three laps to go.

“He wasn’t catching the guys in front, and the guys behind weren’t catching him. A strange one, for me.”

Guintoli noted: “He was the only Ducati rider with a hard front.”

Hodgson: “If you back off with a hard front and think ‘I am safe here’ you don’t quite load it the same. We have seen it happen before.

“Imagine this; you think ‘I will take this position, I won’t risk as much’. Then down you go! That’s annoying.”

Guintoli said: “Again though, out of the GP23s he’s the one at the front. The GP24s are quick…”

Martin listened to 'the angel, not the devil'

Champion Bagnaia set the fastest lap of the sprint before crashing out, from fourth place, on Lap 4 of 10.

Hodgson analysed: “Jorge Martin made a mistake three weekends ago. These riders are at the absolute limit, Bagnaia was in fourth, closing to the lead.

“There was nothing he did wrong. He wasn’t closed in. But everyone is on the limit, the lap times were ridiculous - nearly qualifying times!

“When you’re on the edge, trying to win a world championship, you have to live on the edge. But it’s easy to go a fraction over it.

“It was on the worst corner at Silverstone. It’s easy to overload the front, and down you go.”

“You’ve got the devil and the angel in that situation. The angel is saying ‘second place is great, we’ll take that!’ The devil is saying ‘we can win!’

“But Martin crashed out of the lead at the last race, because he was over the limit.

“He is sat there, and listened to the angel. He took second place.”

Martin’s podium - coupled with the DNF for Bagnaia and Marquez - had a drastic effect on the MotoGP standings.

Martin has cut Bagnaia’s lead at the summit of the championship to a single point ahead of Sunday’s grand prix.

Marquez has lost third-place to Bastianini.