It was only fifth place at stake, but Francesco Bagnaia was not content and responded to Marc Márquez. The result was a collision that caused both to crash, leaving them without points in the main race of the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix.
Widely seen as a racing incident, including by the involved riders, it was the first disagreement on track between both since Márquez joined Gresini – riding a Ducati, just like the two-time world champion, although he has an older version of the bike.
In an interview with MOW Mag, rider manager Carlo Pernat believes that a problem has already arisen with the incident in Portimão: ‘The first problems have begun, we say it straight away. It also triggered some political problems, in the good sense of the word. Let’s start from here, this with Bagnaia is already a problem’.
According to the commentator, it is possible that with another rider Bagnaia would have taken fewer risks: ‘Of course, it was a racing incident, but if it had been another rider instead of Marc Márquez, perhaps Pecco wouldn’t have pushed so hard. But, of course, it is true that Marc Márquez tried, and Pecco Bagnaia responded’.
Although not assigning blame, Pernat believes that there is already some politics involved in this case: ‘Let’s be clear: if your opponent also bothers you politically, of course, you have to keep him there, it’s normal. Let’s not blame anyone. If only these fights existed, this is a sport of fights, we have fun’.