MotoGP’s resident philosopher Franco Morbidelli has offered a damning theory about the championship’s stewarding situation, intimating the series benefits too much from the profile its crashes get to want to crack down harder on incidents.
At the start of Sunday’s Catalan Grand Prix, Taka Nakagami wiped out Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Rins in a first-corner incident.
It went unpunished by the FIM MotoGP stewards – a decision met with surprise by riders throughout the paddock, but which MotoGP justified by saying the incident did not meet the “established threshold” for incurring a penalty.
MotoGP said the stewards saw a “multitude of angles”, including from the helicopter, and judged Nakagami had “braked at a similar time to riders around him”.
Video of the dramatic crash has been shared repeatedly by MotoGP.
Works Yamaha rider Morbidelli is no stranger to being at the centre of such an incident, following his own huge crash with Johann Zarco at the Red Bull Ring in 2020 – a high speed fall that was aired over and over again by MotoGP and its TV broadcast partners. Zarco was given a pitlane start at the next race as a punishment for that incident.
And, perhaps with the media focus on his 2020 crash in mind, Morbidelli said his “cynical” side was not at all surprised by the way in which the aftermath of the crash played out.
Asked if he felt not punishing Nakagami was the right decision by the stewards panel led by past world champion Freddie Spencer, Morbidelli replied: “For the show, yes. For the riders, no.
“This video is going to be seen by thousands, millions, of people, this huge bomb in Turn 1 at 250km/h. That’s our job. Finally, it is like this.
“I’m cynical, but life is cynical and MotoGP is cynical sometimes. Sport is cynical.
“If you are here caring one for the other, racing would be much nicer, but many things are involved.
“I blame capitalism.”
MotoGP organiser Dorna and the FIM Stewards Panel declined to comment on Morbidelli’s words when approached by The Race.
The normally calm and cool Morbidelli also had strong words for Nakagami, suggesting the LCR Honda rider – and others – should be more aware of those around him when the lights go out.
“I think that some people should use their heads more when they’re racing,” he said.
“We are racing, the price is high, and we all want to achieve great results, all want a lot, and we’re all ready to risk a lot to achieve it – but we should care a little more about our health and our colleagues’ health.
“It’s a big mistake, a big mistake. I don’t know where he was starting? Twelfth? And he was fourth, more or less. It’s crazy, crazy.
“The move that he did on Alex in Mugello was tough, was aggressive, was on the limit. But here he made a step ahead.
“You should be better than this, you should care more about yourself as well, not just your rivals.
“Sometimes we tend to forget this. It’s a normal thing for a rider, for a human being, but when these things happen it is frustrating.
“It makes me angry. But it’s normal, and it is like this. It is racing.”
Even among Morbidelli’s comments about Nakagami came a veiled attack on the people in race control who are supposed to be monitoring rider behaviour, with the Yamaha rider insinuating that there’s no one willing to police on track behaviour except the riders themselves.
“I think that there are people who are taking care of us in the sense that we don’t hurt ourselves alone, or are when we are riding and doing normal stuff,” Morbidelli added, hinting at the work carried out by people like safety officers Loris Capirossi and Franco Uncini.
“But I feel that the only people who can take care of ourselves when we are racing, when we are going at 360km/h five centimetres from each other, when 25 of us arrive at 270km/h with cold tyres in Turn 1, are the riders. No one else can take care.
“They can discourage. Yes, they can. They could, but they don’t, because of many reasons, and sincerely I accept that.”
