Aleix Espargaro: “I don't understand what the Steward panel is doing”
“This is a very dangerous announcement. I still can't believe it, really!”
Aleix Espargaro “can’t believe” the FIM Stewards elected not to investigate the last lap clash between Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini, which decided victory in the Emilia Romagna MotoGP.
Although both riders remained upright, the contact resulted in race and title leader Martin running off track and Bastianini also briefly crossing into the run-off.
The factory Ducati rider rejoined to win by five seconds over Martin, who made his displeasure at the move clear.
But to the surprise of many, the Stewards did not investigate the incident, which would also have resulted in an official explanation for a penalty/no penalty decision.
“I don't understand. I'm very disappointed. I don't understand what the Steward panel is doing,” said Espargaro.
“I have really no words, because one rider touched the other one, and both riders went out of the track, and they didn't even put under investigation. So it [makes] no sense.
“Apart from the action, I'm a little bit worried, because the message they are sending to all of the riders is that you can do whatever you want,” Espargaro added.
“You can touch [another] rider, you can go out of the track, and this is a very dangerous announcement.
“I still can't believe it, really!”
Espargaro, a good friend of Martin who will hand his Aprilia to the current Pramac rider for 2025, insisted the difficulty of overtaking with a modern MotoGP bike was not the issue.
“Doesn't matter. The bikes are difficult to overtake, yes. But also in the past [with any bike] you can touch another rider and go out of the track.
“You can do it now and you can do it 20 years ago.
“Yes, it's hard to overtake. But if you touch another rider and both go out of track, it's not about the bikes.”
Simon Crafar will replace Freddie Spencer as chairman of the FIM MotoGP Stewards Panel at the end of this season.
