The multi-bike pile-up that kicked off Sunday’s Catalan Grand Prix was widely acknowledged as a bad blunder by Enea Bastianini – but there were varying degrees of sympathy from his MotoGP rivals.
Bastianini, who had started 14th, three places lower than in the sprint due to an impeding penalty from practice, arrived at Turn 1 at significant speed on the inside of the corner, his rear wheel lifting off the ground – with Marc Marquez attesting afterwards that he had braked while level with Bastianini, saw the Ducati rider continue to travel at a higher speed, and realised Turn 1 could be a mess.
Indeed, Bastianini hit Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco, with both Desmosedicis swiftly ending up on the ground as Bastianini’s bike spun into yet another Ducati, that of Alex Marquez, which then smashed into yet another Ducati, that of Marco Bezzecchi.
Meanwhile, Bastianini and his bike ended up right in the path of a fifth Ducati, that of Fabio Di Giannantonio, resulting in another nasty hit.
Of the five, Bastianini came off by far the worst and he was the only rider not to take the subsequent restart. He was diagnosed later in the day with fractures to his left hand and left ankle in a Barcelona hospital.
Bastianini’s guilt
“Now is not the time to be rude and hard to Enea,” said Pol Espargaro in the aftermath of the crash, seemingly mirroring the attitude of much of the grid, reluctant to judge too harshly given the rider at fault was getting broken bones checked out during their media duties.
“He did the mistake, he has been penalised for it so, he will learn from it – I heard that he’s injured so, best recovery to him, but it’s not necessary to push for [put on blast] any rider for this case. Because I know that feeling, and he’s already mentally destroyed because nobody wants to do this kind of thing,” Marc Marquez told MotoGP.com.
Several riders cited mitigating circumstances, too, both general and Barcelona-specific.
The fact that any early-race gains are now absolutely decisive to the outcome of the grand prix, given the difficulty in overtaking relative to previous years, was something brought up by Di Giannantonio, who told MotoGP.com: “At the end, if you have just two-three laps to try to overtake as much as possible, it can happen. It shouldn’t happen, but, yeah [it does].”
Di Giannantonio’s Gresini team-mate Alex Marquez, who was fortunate in the accident as his biggest impact was being accidentally kicked in the back by Di Giannantonio as they slid into the gravel, simply expressed his disbelief at seeing so many Ducatis on the ground, especially as another one – that of race leader Pecco Bagnaia – then crashed one corner further on.
Forza tio💪🏼🙏🏼
— Alex Márquez (@alexmarquez73) September 4, 2023
“It’s of course completely his [Bastianini’s] fault – but there’s also a part of luck in this one,” said Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, pointing out there was a tailwind into Turn 1 – something Brad Binder also flagged up, describing it as “really strong”.
And RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira reckoned the fact that riders are incentivised to hammer the brakes into Turn 1 to make sure their ride height devices are disengaged after the start – which they can sometimes fail to do if the braking force is insufficient – played a part.
“We do have to brake super late and strong to disengage the device. Eventually this creates an even bigger pitch to the front, [and] we need to start with the low pressure, the tyre is not ready, so if you try to overtake too many people on the brakes in the first couple of corners you’re going to eventually end up having an incident like this,” he said.
Run down to Turn 1
One of the more popular explanations – but one that divided riders – was that the Barcelona layout had contributed to the crash. This was also because last year’s race, in which Takaaki Nakagami crashed by himself at Turn 1 after the start and wiped out Bagnaia and Alex Rins, was still fresh in memory.
But it wasn’t just about the nature of the fairly sharp Turn 1 – as repeatedly pointed out, it is not as sharp as the first corner at the Red Bull Ring, which produced its own multi-bike crash in the sprint two weeks ago – but of the long run from the starting positions.
“I think they need to make the start closer to the first corner. It’d make a difference,” said Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli.
“F***, you arrive in fifth gear, two-hundred-I-don’t-know-how-many… [km/h] and pff, there is a big mess, and the braking is more difficult.”
It would “for sure” help were such a change made, KTM’s Jack Miller agreed.
Race winner Aleix Espargaro, however, was far from amenable to the suggestion – or, more precisely, to the idea of looking for mitigating circumstances.
“I think that we are good enough to try to brake in the right point,” Espargaro said in the harshest admonishment of Bastianini found up and down the grid. “Not to try to overtake 25 riders in the first corner.
“It’s not about where you put the start. It’s about who rides the bike. It’s not that difficult. We have to be a bit more relaxed in the first corner.
“Believe me, it’s not about where you put the start. If you put the start in the corner [itself] but somebody doesn’t want to brake, he will not brake either.”
“We saw a rider who braked a bit too late. And then he has no space. That’s clear,” said team-mate Maverick Vinales.
“Yesterday also I didn’t go into the corner because Bastianini was coming,” said Zarco, referencing the fact that Bastianini was likewise on the inside line for the sprint start but was much more alongside Zarco and found a gap to slot into.
“He was lucky that I didn’t go into the corner yesterday – but today I was in the corner [already], but he arrived, trying to gain maybe more than six positions at the time.
“This can happen sometimes, and you’re like a hero when it happens, but most of the time it can be tragic.”
And even Pol Espargaro, who was careful not to be too critical, was still very matter-of-fact in his assessment. “He was too late, everything was too late – he braked too late, in a very bad position, with the track super dirty.
“The first corner, we all need to be very careful. The fuel tank is full, tyres are cold, everyone is super nervous. This is a human mistake. A big one.”
Sufficient penalty?
A long-lap penalty was announced for Bastianini during the red-flag stoppage and, as he didn’t take the restart, it will now need to be served in his next grand prix appearance.
“I have to say, for me, the penalties are OK – but the penalties, if you throw [take out] a rider in corner one of the race, it should be more aggressive,” said Aleix Espargaro.
“I think he got one long-lap penalty – one long-lap you can get mid-race for touching somebody, OK. But if in the first corner already you hit and you produce an accident of five riders, this is at least a double long-lap penalty. Minimum.”
And when it was put to him Nakagami went unpenalised in last year’s crash, he said: “Last year was a joke.”
“Ask Freddie [Spencer, chief steward],” said Morbidelli when asked for his opinion on the penalty. “I don’t want to get into this.”
He then added, however, with a reference to riders being penalised for moves deemed “overly ambitious”: “Enea was very ‘overly ambitious’. Ask Freddie and tell Freddie to think more in-depth on this.
“Can you talk with Freddie? No? Nobody can talk with Freddie.”
“It’s hard to say what penalty we can get,” said Zarco. “For sure, this one-lap penalty would’ve destroyed his race.
“Because the long-lap penalty here is like going to Barcelona, seeing the Cathedral and coming back. So if it’s just to destroy his race, yes, it was enough. But just one long-lap… it’s hard to judge.”
The consequences
The penalty will be a secondary matter for Bastianini, who now faces a second extended spell on the sidelines following his injury in the Portimao season opener – in a crash that he was completely blameless for – that completely wrecked his start to 2023.
“He will be off for Misano and we’ll see how many races,” said Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi to MotoGP.com.
“So far it looks not a nice break on the hand. We’ll see.”
And while three fellow Ducati riders involved in the pile-up seemed to shrug it off, with Zarco, Marquez, and Di Giannantonio all finishing in the top 10 after the restart, there could be an injury drama for Bezzecchi, who struggled badly after the hit.
“Like in Austria – I didn’t see nothing, I just got hit by four-five bikes. Then when I saw the images I understood,” said Bezzecchi, in no mood to publicly assign the blame, after the race.
The VR46 Ducati rider revealed he “hurt my hand quite badly, but also my right leg and my back”. He is due for a Monday check-up to gauge the extent of the injuries and his recovery plan.
