Explained: How Jorge Martin should have avoided baffling Misano mistake
Jorge Martin decision attributed to "panic"
Jorge Martin should have been led by information from his garage, and not made a decision based on gut-instinct to avoid his San Marino MotoGP disaster, he has been told.
The championship contender was the first rider at Misano on Sunday to pit for his wet bike, as raindrops fell.
He rejoined a lap later by which time his error was obvious, forcing him to box again and rejoin a lapped 15th.
Martin catastrophically finished 15th (Marc Marquez won ahead of Pecco Bagnaia). Martin’s championship lead ahead of Bagnaia has been cut to seven points.
As he boldly pulled in, with rain only in its earliest stages, TNT Sports commentator Neil Hodgson yelled: “This is a mistake, it’s dry! “He had one little scare, and panicked!”
Michael Laverty later analysed how Martin came to his decision - and what he should have done instead.
“It’s always the rider who makes the call,” Laverty said. “Sometimes you will ask for signals on your pitboard or your dash. But today there wasn’t time.
“The rain only began to fall heavily at Tramonto, they went through Curvone and he had a little moment and went off-track. He immediately panicked and thought ‘I am going to make the decision early’.
“Sometimes it is the right call. But with the radars, all the information, it wasn’t telling us that there would be heavy rainfall.
“History is that it will be a light bit of rain. It’s not going to wet the track. He panicked, made the wrong decision, had to make a double pitstop to change back.
“It’s frustrating for him and the whole Pramac team.”
Hodgson added: "There is an unspoken rule, in that situation if it starts to drizzle, you keep your eye on your main championship rivals.
"He was in the perfect position, sat behind Pecco.
"[If he was leading], and he came in, and everybody else went out then it would be a mistake. But [boxing from third, behind Bagnaia] makes the mistake bigger.
"He has made no mistakes this year. Yes, he crashed in Germany. But his decision-making on the race track has been outstanding.
"But this could haunt him for the rest of his life. He had a 26-point lead in the championship!
"It wasn't worth the gamble, and it did not pay off."
'You do not gamble', Jorge Martin told
Laverty continued: “It beggars belief, to be honest.
“To be in control of every emotion he’s dealt with this season, then have a split-second decision…
“He had all of the information. He had Pecco in front of him. You mark your championship rival, in these scenarios.
“You do not gamble. You do it if you’re outside the points.
“I just do not know what Martin was thinking. It’s the first time he’s blinked all year, and not done the right thing.
“Nineteen points, essentially, he has given away to Bagnaia, on a day where he didn’t need to. He was in control. The pressure gets to everyone.
“Pecco dealt with it well. Martin has been through this before - at the Sachsenring he threw away a potential 25 points - but he bounced back.
“I really didn’t see it happening, I didn’t see Martin making that type of mistake.”
Laverty continued: “Jorge has to brush this off. It was an error of judgement. He made the wrong call and will be frustrated.”
MotoGP riders will be back on the Misano track on Monday for the official test.
The racing resumes in a fortnight - again at Misano - for the Emilia-Romagna MotoGP.
