The heated moment of the Portuguese MotoGP Grand Prix was the collision between Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) as they battled for fifth place near the end. The stewards did not attribute blame to either of them, and so far the incident has not generated much controversy despite differing opinions in the paddock.
Sito Pons gave his analysis to Moto.it’s YouTube channel: ‘Márquez entered a tight moment and undoubtedly he had to go wider on the braking in that corner. Márquez didn’t open up completely and re-entered, touching Bagnaia, closing the trajectory. Certainly, Márquez couldn’t see that Bagnaia was there, that he had entered the corner’.
The former rider and team owner argues that no one was to blame, although he acknowledges that Bagnaia didn’t want to be overtaken: ‘I consider that this crash was no one’s fault, everyone tried to race and get to the last lap, they were trying to fight for position and Márquez took a risk, went a bit wide on that braking, and Bagnaia tried to stay on the inside, and when Márquez returned, they touched. It’s a racing incident. It’s true that Pecco didn’t want to let Márquez win or be beaten by another Ducati rider’.