MotoGP race direction issues apology, explanation for yellow flag error
Race director apologises to Francesco Bagnaia for incorrect lap cancellation
MotoGP race director Mike Webb has issued an apology and explanation after Francesco Bagnaia has his best Thai Grand Prix practice lap incorrectly cancelled on Friday.
Bagnaia posted a 1m29.492s lap with around three minutes remaining in Friday afternoon’s Practice, which put him seventh at the time and would have kept him inside the top 10 Q2 places.
But this lap was cancelled, ostensibly due to being set under yellow flag conditions for Marco Bezzecchi’s crash at Turn 3 at around the same time.
However, Bagnaia was well clear of the incident and was not in a sector that should have been affected by a yellow flag at the time.
Bagnaia was forced into a last-ditch attempt to get into Q2 with his final lap, which he then had to abort for encountering a slowing Franco Morbidelli on the racing line at Turn 5.
Race direction admit Thai MotoGP error
When he spoke to the media, Bagnaia said race direction admitted its mistake, with its director Webb now issuing his own statement.
“Race Direction determined that the yellow flag was incorrectly displayed on the lap Bagnaia has had cancelled. This was due to human error,” he said.
“We are very unhappy with this unfortunate situation and effect it has had on Pecco’s weekend.
“When a rider passes a yellow flag, their lap is automatically cancelled. This affected various riders today, but unfortunately it was Bagnaia’s fastest lap of the session.
“Laps are cancelled due to passing a yellow flag, not necessarily because a rider passes through a sector with a crash.
“We cannot reverse any cancellation of a lap for any rider who has seen a yellow flag. But we can - and do - apologise to Bagnaia and the Ducati Lenovo Team for the human error.”
Bagnaia noted that race direction argued it couldn’t reinstate his lap as it would leave the door open for other riders to questions every cancelled time.
This cancelled lap dropped Bagnaia out of the top 10, with his aborted final effort leaving him 13th overall and facing Q1 on Saturday morning.
Morbidelli was hit with a three-place grid penalty for getting in Bagnaia’s way at the end of the session, while LCR Honda rookie Somkiat Chantra was copped for something similar.
