Fabio Di Giannantonio has described Jorge Martin's Qatar Grand Prix crash as "the worst scene of my life", having inadvertently hit Martin with his bike through a fast section of the Lusail track.
Recovering from an early incident with Alex Marquez, Di Giannantonio was lining up a move on Martin when the Aprilia rider, returning from a long injury absence, went down on the outside kerb between the fast right-handers Turn 12 and Turn 13.
Though it wasn't immediately obvious, replays showed Di Giannantonio's Ducati hit Martin hard in the back when he was already on the ground, Martin then violently lurching forward towards his crashed bike - which was presumably the principal culprit of the injuries he's sustained.
Martin's Aprilia team has communicated that he's suffered a pneumothorax (punctured lung) and rib fractures that will require a multi-day hospital stay for treatment and observation.
Di Giannantonio wasn't aware of the extent of Martin's injuries when he spoke to the media after the race, and was under the impression that Martin avoided anything serious. Regardless, his comments made it clear he had feared the worst-case scenario.
"He was in front of me, a bit wide, I was pretty close to him, trying to overtake him for sure," Di Giannantonio recalled. "Once he crashed, he was completely in front of my bike.
"We go through there - entering Turn 13 - at 200km/h more or less, 160km/h, 180km/h. I didn't have any chance to go anywhere. I touched him.
"I was pushing all the race but I was thinking of him all race because I was really scared. I stopped outside his [Aprilia] box, just at the end of the race, because I wanted to know from the team that he's OK and that's the greatest thing from today."
Di Giannantonio said he was surprised not to see the race red-flagged but took it as a sign that Martin wasn't so badly hurt.
"I had goosebumps because it was the worst scene of my life, honestly," he said. "It was a super bad crash.
"And he was still on the ground. I was seeing the [TV] screens [around the track] trying to understand if he was OK or not. He was still on the ground. I was doing the lap - then luckily maybe he was OK and for this it was not a red flag."
Marquez move not appropriate for MotoGP
An ill-judged Turn 12 lunge from Marquez - a counter-attack after he'd been overtaken at Turn 10 - effectively wrote off Di Giannantonio's race.
Marquez was saddled with a long-lap penalty (and Di Giannantonio later picked up one of his own for barging into Honda's Joan Mir during his recovery ride).
Despite both being penalised - and despite his acknowledgment it wasn't a malicious act from Marquez - Di Giannantonio was fuming, aware also that a strong podium chance had gone begging.
"In our level of championship, in this MotoGP championship, these kinds of mistakes are a bit on the limit, honestly," he vented. "You can accept it maybe in Moto3. You can accept it maybe - maybe - in Moto2. You can accept it maybe from a rookie in MotoGP, the first time he's in the front, when you are with a lot of emotions.
"But in our level of riders... we must avoid this kind of situation. Because it's dangerous. This sport is dangerous. That manoeuvre was really dangerous. He put me really in danger, in the end. I was lucky not to crash.
"If I had crashed, I don't know if I'm here speaking to you now. Maybe I'm in the medical centre trying to see if I'm OK. Because in that point we are going 200km/h-plus, and you have to be extra conscious, let's say. Especially on the fourth lap of the race."
Marquez was clear after the race that the incident was fully his responsibility. "When you make a mistake in life, you need to accept it - and I accept it completely," he said, and he saw the long-lap penalty as appropriate.
He said he tried to seek out Di Giannantonio after the race to apologise but was told, presumably by VR46, that it was "not the moment" - which he "understands".
And indeed, those apologies would've surely fallen on deaf ears, especially as Di Giannantonio was also particularly incensed by Marquez being able to recover to seventh place.
"The thing that I would love to work on for the future is, with a mistake like this, that you destroy the race of another rider, you cannot have just one long lap penalty.
"Because at the end I lost 25, 20, 16, I don't know how many points - and he got the chance to finish in P7. It's not fair, let's say."
As for what specific penalty he would like to have see, Di Giannantonio said: "I am a rider, I'm not a steward. But for sure a bit harder."
