Aleix Espargaro has slammed fellow MotoGP rider Franco Morbidelli for riding as if he were “on another planet in his head”,’ following last-lap contact between the pair in today’s Malaysian Grand Prix as they battled each other for the final spot inside the top 10.
Aprilia rider Espargaro, who saw his title ambitions finally come to an end in Sunday’s race, was suffering from grip issues all race long but was finally able to recover enough to find himself just inside the top 10 – only to get unceremoniously shoved out of the way at the penultimate corner by the Yamaha rider.
A three-place penalty, which would have demoted Morbidelli from 10th t0 13th, was initially announced for the move – but that was later corrected to a three-second penalty that only dropped him one place to 11th.
It marks his second offence of the weekend after a double long lap penalty served earlier in the race for cruising during FP3, and his fourth riding standards-related sanction of the season (to go with two time penalties for track limits) after a previous long lap penalty for the same offence at Assen (that actually became a double long lap when he failed to serve the initial one in time) and a three-place grid penalty for an illegal practice start at the Indonesian Grand Prix in March.
Speaking to the media after the race, though, Morbidelli hit out at officials rather than accepting the sanction, suggesting that there needs to be a complete rethinking of the series’ entire stewarding process.
“I had another penalty,” he explained afterwards, “for a normal last-lap overtaking in the second-last corner.
“I hope that this overtake will be shown a lot on social media and TV, to show how much of a mistake race direction did today on that decision. They are humans, and humans can make mistakes, but it will be important to discuss the way of judgement of these moments, the way we are being judged, because there is something that is not quite working.”
The move comes only weeks after a previous incident between the pair in the closing stages of the Thai Grand Prix at Buriram, where Espargaro was penalised with a long lap for contact between him and Brad Binder but believed that Morbidelli had made an equally aggressive move on him.
But while he laughed off that move as Morbidelli “looking for a contract next year” – in reference to Morbidelli’s team-mate Fabio Quartararo having been a title rival of Espargaro’s – he was considerably more incensed about the Sepang incident.
“I don’t know what this guy is doing this year,” Espargaro vented. “I don’t understand.
“He’s here or on another planet in his head?
“They give him every GP some sanctions but he keeps doing stupid things. He hit me two times in Thailand, we were 11th place, I didn’t understand. And today he hit me super hard. I don’t know [how] I didn’t crash. For 10th place.
“They gave him three seconds which I think is good, because they give me back one important point but I think he needs to start last or from pitlane.
“They keep giving him some sanctions but he doesn’t improve. It’s crazy. I don’t know. I don’t understand. I was very lucky not to crash.”
