Casey Stoner blames MotoGP aero for huge Australian Grand Prix crash

Two-times MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner has blamed downforce aerodynamics for a huge crash at last weekend’s Australian MotoGP race.

The incident in question occurred in Saturday’s MotoGP Sprint, when Maverick Vinales passed Marco Bezzecchi on the run into turn one.

Vinales edged towards the outside of the track after passing Bezzecchi to take a better line through the first corner, but Bezzecchi then ran into the back of the Aprilia rider under braking and both riders fell.

“This is the result of aero,” Stoner commented on an Instagram post from the official MotoGP account. “The wake caused by them at that speed is too much.”

Stoner made his opinions on downforce aerodynamics clear also earlier this year when he appeared on the Ducati Diaries podcast with Neil Hodgson. The two-times MotoGP World Champion explained that the aerodynamics, in combination with ride height devices and electronics, work to reduce the quality of racing in MotoGP by increasing grip and therefore reducing the chance for riders to make mistakes.

Bezzecchi was awarded a long lap penalty for his role in the incident. One lap after serving it in Sunday’s Grand Prix at turn four, Bezzecchi crashed at the same corner before remounting and finishing 19th.

The report from the FIM MotoGP Stewards’ panel on the incident noted the effect of the aerodynamics and “turbulent air” on the incident.

It said: “The Stewards have considered the effects of turbulent air caused by the pass of #12 [Vinales], and accept that this disturbance may in this situation offer a degree of mitigation, whereby #72 [Bezzecchi] rolled off throttle and reapplied throttle and braked later.”