Once again, MotoGP is writing crazy stories. The sprint of the premier class in Barcelona on Saturday was the second of the current season in which there was a real festival of crashes. With Raul Fernandez on lap four, Brad Binder on lap five and Francesco Bagnaia on the last lap, three riders were caught out while in the lead. On Saturday evening, the explanations for the accidents were very different.
The crash in the twelfth and final lap of the sprint left a particularly bitter taste in the mouth of Francesco Bagnaia, as the Ducati rider is in the middle of a tough World Championship battle against Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez and can therefore use every point. In addition, the 27-year-old has been waiting for a sprint win since the Malaysian Grand Prix last season. The reigning world champion saw the reason for his crash in the special track conditions.
“I took a lot of time to understand this crash. I was in the pits for an hour to analyse everything,” Bagnaia explained to the assembled journalists. He summed up his findings as follows: “It’s like this: you can’t go into the corners more slowly and still brake just as hard, otherwise you’ll crash. Normally that’s possible, but with the poor grip conditions here in Barcelona it’s a disaster.”
Francesco Bagnaia: I did nothing wrong
Bagnaia was on the verge of taking home the win and was no longer pushing to the limit. He doesn’t want to hear about a lapse in concentration on his part. “I cruised, but was 100 percent focused. I know how to win, I’ve done it many times before and had everything under control. I did everything perfectly. If you look at the data, the moment of the accident looks very strange because it doesn’t fit the situation.” Aleix Espargaro explained after the race that he deliberately wanted to force Bagnaia to make a mistake because he kept recognizing small driving errors by the driver in front of him.
Bagnaia consistently rejected the opinion of his MotoGP colleague. “I don’t know what mistakes Aleix claims to have seen, I was the fastest today. Only in turn five did I have a problem with the gearbox, which we are currently working on. Otherwise I drove without any mistakes,” the Italian clarified.
Brad Binder: I should stop driving particularly cleanly
“I tried to ride very cleanly. I shouldn’t do that,” said Binder with a smile. But his statement has a serious background. “When I slide into the corners, I have fewer problems with the front, it probably shifts the weight to another place.” Although he again finished the sprint without any points, he was in a positive mood: “It’s never nice to crash, but it’s better if you crash when you’re in the lead than to be riding around in 15th place somewhere. Here in Barcelona the bike works really well, I felt very strong in the race today and that makes me happy.”
Raul Fernandez self-critical: Was my mistake
The third and last of the group was Raul Fernandez. The Trackhouse Racing rider was heading for his best MotoGP result after already achieving third place on the grid in qualifying. Unlike Bagnaia and Binder, Fernandez was hit in turn ten. “I think my crash was just a stupid mistake. I was trying to make up for a mistake from the previous corner,” said the 23-year-old self-critically. “In turn nine, I had a lot of movement in the bike, which cost time. In turn 10, I then noticed that I was going too far. But I still held the line and then fell; I just wanted too much. That was 100 percent my mistake.”