Pecco Bagnaia apologises: “Sorry to Alex Marquez for the strong words”
"I didn’t want to say that he made me crash on purpose"
Francesco Bagnaia has publicly apologised to Alex Marquez for saying the Gresini rider deliberately crashed into him in Aragon MotoGP.
On lap 18 of 23 in last Sunday’s race at Aragon, Bagnaia and the younger Marquez brother collided at Turn 13 while battling for third.
The clash was deemed a racing incident by the stewards, but both riders blamed each other for the collision.
Bagnaia says Marquez deliberately rode into him and says the data from his bike backs this theory up.
Marquez refuted this on social media, while both riders cleared the air in private on Sunday evening at Aragon.
On Thursday ahead of this weekend’s San Marino GP, Bagnaia apologised for his accusation against Marquez - though still believes the Gresini rider was at fault.
“I want to say sorry to Alex for the strong words I said in the interviews after the race,” Bagnaia said.
“I was very angry for what happened and looking at the telemetry was even worse from my point of view.
“But in any case, I was a bit too strong in my words. I didn’t want to say that he made me crash on purpose.
“The thing was that his defence was a bit aggressive, like is normal when you are fighting for the podium positions.
“I still think the same about the incident, because I have my way of thinking. But for the words I said [about him], I think it was a bit too much and I’m sorry to Alex.
“Sometimes the [anger] makes you say something that you don’t think. So, my point of view is that.
“He came to our office to say sorry for what happened and nothing more. We are two riders, we have two different points of views.
“It’s respectful, but for sure it’s the same ambition in the wrong moment.”
Bagnaia paid a dear price for the incident as it left him 23 points adrift of Jorge Martin in the championship leaving Aragon.
Bagnaia's fitness update
Both riders walked away without serious injury from the incident, but Bagnaia admits he is not at 100% fitness coming to Misano for the first of two races at the track this month.
“Physically, I’m not at my 100%,” he added.
“I feel a lot of pain on the shoulder, over the collarbone, neck. But in any case, we will try to be ready.
“It’s my home grand prix and it’s always fantastic to race in front of all of the crowd here.
“I make a million kilometres every year here, so I can be ready in any case.”
Expanding on where his fitness is limited, Bagnaia said: “I don’t feel that I can move my body as I want.
“But that’s normal. The impact was huge and 170kg were on my shoulders. And the hit on the gravel was quite huge.
“Luckily I didn’t have any broken bones, but the muscles and the ligaments are suffering a bit.”
