“A driver who, during the race or during practice, due to a driving error or for any other reason, visibly leaves the ideal line, is obliged to check that the space is free before returning to that line”.
Hello everyone! Here is the missing rule that Sanchini also mentioned on Sunday. The accident between Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Marquez did not, fortunately, have any consequences on the physical level (even if it risks having some for the world championship). It is not an unprecedented dynamic, on the contrary: we have seen many similar collisions in the distant and recent past. But the time has come to put things in order because the dangers have increased for many reasons, for the aerodynamic appendages, the greater speed in the curves, etc.
Who made a mistake on Sunday between turns 12 and 13? For most, including Petrucci in the live broadcast with Zam, the responsibility lies entirely with Alex Marquez who, instead of taking his foot off the gas and falling into line when he was overtaken by half a bike, insisted on the line and with the same speed. The Panel Jury instead decreed: racing incident.
In the place of the Jury, would I have done the same? I think so. It is very difficult to separate responsibilities and only the riders really know what happened. Even if I agree in indicating Alex as the main responsible, I cannot decide beyond any reasonable doubt whether he saw Bagnaia or not. Maybe yes, maybe no. And Bagnaia could (maybe) have closed less and left more space.
I would say 70 to 30. I repeat, only the riders really know what happened. And here Bagnaia (hot off the press) had no doubts, according to him Alex actually sought contact in an attempt to prevent the overtaking: after the braking error he knew his rival was very close, he saw and felt it, he wanted to get back at all costs.
The youngest Marquez denies, offended. But is it convincing, Alex? I try to be objective, I tried to reverse the situation and put Bagnaia in the other’s place, but no, I just can’t believe Alex. Why? Because it’s not credible when he adds that he absolutely didn’t know he had Bagnaia behind him: the team, he assured, doesn’t tell him who the rider is who is going to pick him up.
The drivers, all the drivers, know perfectly well what is happening on the track, in their immediate vicinity and even beyond. The signals from the pit wall and the giant screens are more than enough to have the general picture of the situation. And of course keeping an eye on direct rivals is a priority.
I opened with the rule proposal, I close with an additional hypothesis: what if we put rear-view mirrors on MotoGP? I’m not saying it’s a definitive solution, and probably in this case it wouldn’t have changed anything at all, but in other cases…you never know. After all, they also have them in F1. I don’t like the idea either, but if it increased safety…
