COTA MotoGP grid chaos: “Not fair, we need a clear rule”

The start of Sunday’s Americas MotoGP at COTA descended into chaos as around half the grid abandoned their bikes and sprinted to the pits for slick tyres, forcing a race delay.

Pole qualifier Marc Marquez triggered the stampede when he realised wets were the wrong choice, later revealing he gambled on more than ten riders following him to get the start delayed.

That's based on rules, brought in after the last grid exodus at Argentina 2018, that states: “In the interests of safety, when more than 10 riders will start the race from pit lane exit, the start will be delayed and a new start procedure will take place.”

However, since the warm-up lap had not yet begun, the procedure for a rider leaving the grid to change tyres (rain-slick) is given as: “Start the warm up lap from pit lane, take your qualifying grid position, and serve a ride through penalty in the race.”

Only if riders Ieft the grid after the warm up lap would they be required to "start the race from pit lane and serve a ride through penalty in the race."

Shortly after the three-minute board was signalled, Marquez ran off the grid, with others following.

By the time the start was officially delayed at 13:59'44, or 16 seconds before the warm-up lap was due to begin, Marquez was among eight riders who had changed bikes and were ready to start the warm-up lap from the end of pit lane.

So presumably the '10 rider' rule wouldn't have been activated on Sunday, with those at the end of pit lane still due to start on the grid (and serve a ride through), while roughly twelve others looked set to start the warm-up lap as normal from the grid.

Fortunately for those who bolted from the grid, the scale of the chaos - including Maverick Vinales running back down the grid in search of his bike - meant Race Direction instead delayed the start on the grounds of “safety concerns.  

"Given the number of riders, bikes and pit staff on the grid and in the pitlane area, it was impossible to start the Warm Up lap.

“A new race start was the safest way to respond to the unprecedented circumstances at the start of the Grand Prix. “

But it meant those who had already chosen slicks on the grid - Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini and Ai Ogura - plus others ready to start on wets were denied any advantage since the restart took place in the original grid order.

Bagnaia: "I Just Hoped Many Riders Would Follow"

Eventual race winner Francesco Bagnaia admitted he feared a penalty as he fled the grid.

“As soon as I started running, I just hoped that many riders would follow,” said the Italian, who had reacted to team-mate Marquez. “Because I said, if we are just two, I think some penalty could arrive.

“But then I saw many riders were following from the big screen. So I said, ‘they will not have time enough to remove the bikes from the grid, so will not be any penalty’.

“It’s not clear in the regulations this particular situation.”

Alex Marquez: "It Was Not Fair"

Runner-up and new title leader Alex Marquez was another to benefit from the delay but felt it was “not fair” to those left on the grid and that the rules need to be much clearer in future.

“I think for everybody it was really chaos,” he said. “We need a clear rule for that because as Pecco said, it’s not really clear. I didn’t even know that was possible, honestly speaking!  I just followed the other guys. So, we need to be more clear.

“If they delayed the start just for the chaos, it’s not the correct way. If that’s in the rule, you can do it, they need to do it and they need to organise better. It’s not fair that somebody takes a risk [with tyre choice on the grid] and then they make a start delay.

“Imagine if I was with slicks on the grid. It was not fair. Everything needs to be more clear.”

Bagnaia added: “The only guys who were prepared were KTM, Binder and Enea and Trackhouse [Ogura], who were already with slicks on the grid. So I imagine their situation, they could be much more angry about what happened.”

With riders and teams left confused, Race Director Mike Webb has pledged to re-evaluate the regulations.

“We will analyse the situation together with the teams and revisit the regulations,” Webb confirmed.