MotoGP qualifying as bad as Moto3, 'impossible to do a lap' - UPDATED

UPDATE: 'For riding slowly on the racing line in Q1', Enea Bastianini has been given a three-place grid penalty for today's German MotoGP race. 

Meanwhile Moto3's Darryn Binder, already black-flagged from Qualifying 2 for 'irresponsible riding' after clashing with Joel Kelso as he overtook the rookie on an out-lap, has been given a further ride-though penalty for the race.

MotoGP riders throwing their hands up in despair, or disgust, after being blocked on a fast lap is becoming a frequent occurrence.

After qualifying at the Sachsenring, Francesco Bagnaia felt MotoGP is now 'the same' as Moto3, the class traditionally seen as the epicentre of deliberate - and potentially dangerous - slow-riding in search of a tow.

But while the FIM Stewards have clamped down on such behaviour in the junior class, it's almost unheard of for any penalties to be given to the MotoGP competitors.

"It was impossible to do a lap today, just because the riders in front were so slow in the middle of the line," said Bagnaia, who will start from tenth on the grid.

"It's something I don’t like to see because it looks like our qualifying is now very similar to Moto3 qualifying.

"We are always speaking about safety and about Moto3, but today some riders in MotoGP were doing the same. So I'm not happy to see a situation like this."

The factory Ducati rider added: "Normally I'm not someone who asks for penalties for riders, because it's normal to commit an error, but today I think the situation was clear to see because there were a lot of images of riders going very slowly. But I'm not the man to decide it."

Suzuki's Alex Rins was in no doubt that penalties need to be given and is frustrated at the reluctance to punish riders in the premier class.

"I’m so angry because we can’t continue like this in terms of the Stewards. We are MotoGP riders and try to show to Moto3 we can’t stop, we can’t follow and all these things. Then I find a big, big group on the last corner nearly stopped.

"They need to do something. In the Safety Commission we are always talking about this, it’s been a lot of races we are complaining, we are saying they need to be stronger with the decisions but in the end it’s always the same.

"[If the team] send messages or emails to them you get answers like, ‘We don’t feel they disturbed your rider’. This makes no sense," Rins added

"When the TV cameras show that a lot of people are waiting on one part of track, immediately they need to get penalised. In Moto3 it's by sector, if they are slow in one sector, they have a penalty... But they need to penalise, they need to do something.

"In the end we talk, we talk but they never do anything."

Pol Espargaro agreed: "In the last Safety Commission we had Andrea Migno talking with the MotoGP riders and the Stewards saying that for sure the Moto3 category is pretty dangerous at the moment, having everyone waiting and stopped in the middle of the track... And then we MotoGP guys are doing the same.

"So sure, we are the ones who need to give the good example to them [in Moto3] and we are not doing it. I'm not saying that I don't do it too. This is a criticism of all the riders, me included. So for sure we need to change this."

At one stage in Qualifying 2 the TV cameras picked up a pack of four riders - Aleix Espargaro, Marc Marquez, Miguel Oliveira and Jorge Martin - that were almost parked at the side of the track between Turns 12 and 13.

Bagnaia had come across them earlier in the lap.

"I was far behind this group, because I would like to run alone, but already when I started pushing there was a group of riders slowing down in front of me. And they were so slow," Bagnaia said.

"In the second sector I found Nakagami that was in the middle of the track, going slowly. I aborted this lap, pushed again and when I arrived in turn 7 there was Martin, Marquez, Espargaro and one other rider off the line but very close to the line and in Turn 8 there was Miguel in front of me going very slowly, so I had to abort this lap also."

Bagnaia's team-mate Jack Miller had found himself on the receiving end of some arm waving earlier in the session, as he rode slowly on the inside kerbing through Turn 3.

The Australian later explained he hadn’t been looking for a tow, but had finished his flying lap and was returning to the pits. He also had little sympathy for the riders that complained, believing they had been trying to follow him.

"I was trying to do my own job and was kind of out of sync with the other guys. I rolled out a little bit because I was only doing one lap on the first tyres," he said.

"I waited so as to not mess up anyone’s lap because it is kind of one-line around here. Then Alex Marquez and Aleix Espargaro decided to start waving their arms at me like I’d done something f**king wrong. They were all following me and I was trying not to disturb them.

"It’s the same here as everywhere else, a heap of guys cannot do the lap time so they have to get a tow to do it. Simple as that."

Tech3 KTM's Danilo Petrucci was another rider to be disturbed, in his case during Qualifying 1.

"I was doing a good lap, maybe not enough to go into Qualifying 2, but starting 13-14th was possible. Then unfortunately I found Bastianini sleeping around the track, he crossed the [racing] line when I was coming and then he immediately went off the track. I don’t know sincerely what he was thinking."

Petrucci believes such incidents can be traced back to the introduction of a knockout style qualifying consisting of two 15-minute sessions and feels there are no easy answers to stop it happening.

"The fact is that especially in a track like this where you need just a tenth to go one row ahead everything counts and when you are in that position, it's always difficult to say 'Okay, I go' and being followed by someone is not nice, especially because you can lose the position," he explained.

"For sure with our qualifying in 15mins you find riders in the same part of the track at the same time, because we wait, someone goes… When there was 45mins qualifying it was not like this. You maybe find someone but it was just a matter of luck.

"I remember in 2012 there was the old qualifying and maybe some riders made their best lap time in the middle of the session, some others in the last 10mins, some others in the last lap.

"But when you have two shots with new tyres in a track like this where you need also a tenth or two tenths to be faster, it’s a good help to have someone in front. No one wants to give a tow so everyone waits. It's a difficult matter to solve. With just 15mins there is more probability to have this scenario."

KTM's Brad Binder felt that being too close to another rider can sometimes turn out to be a disadvantage, due to the turbulence.

"Sometimes in MotoGP to have bikes around you is not ideal because it makes the bike quite unstable in the wind. The turbulence from the other bikes," he said. "A full-on quick lap always feel better alone.

"OK, if you have a reference in front then great and if there is one then you need to have a bit of a gap otherwise it disturbs you a little bit. It is down to the fact that this track is tiny and it was just chaos out there because nobody wanted to be the first to pull the group along."

Meanwhile, despite being blocked in qualifying, Bagnaia is confident he has the pace to fight his way through in the race.

"I did 33 laps with the same rear tyre and my last lap in FP4 was one tenth slower than my fastest lap," he said. "So I'm very happy about my pace and I think that we are ready to fight for a good position tomorrow.

"The only thing I'm not happy about is the qualifying because the other riders didn't let me do my time!

"For sure I would like to do my best start ever tomorrow, but I think I will have to use my imagination to make overtakes!"

Johann Zarco went on to take pole position, despite a late fall, ahead of title lead Fabio Quartararo. Aleix Espargaro completed the front row for Aprilia.