"I know Dani was still mathematically in with a shot of the title before the race, but I'm a team player and if it was the other way around I wouldn't have been leaning on him and I wouldn't have been stuffing him. Not for a world championship. Not my team-mate. But like I said Honda didn't tell him. The guy didn't have any team orders and he's paid to race hard. I don't expect guys to pull over for me but we should have had a plan. Come on! 15 races down, a world title on the line, seven other Hondas. It was pretty clear Colin was doing all he could for Rossi. You think he was going to pass Rossi?

"Everybody at Repsol Honda is feeling just as sick as I am. I hate it for myself, for the team, for Dani. You work your whole life for something and to be this close, then have it slip away from you, is tough. I'm not going to just brush it off - it could have cost me the world championship. That's something I'll have to live with for the rest of my life. We're professionals and Dani did come to my motorhome afterwards and we shook hands. I'm sure he hates it and it makes him look terrible. I know he's got to feel bad."

"What can I say? I made a mistake and I'm really sorry," offered Pedrosa. "It's the first time I've hit another rider in my career - it's never happened before in practice or racing in six years and it's happened at the worst moment that I could do it. Obviously I'm very unhappy and Nicky is not happy and I just want to apologise because I made a mistake. I said sorry to Nicky and I can understand that he is very upset – I wish I could change it. I didn't want to pass him at that moment. I braked and my rear wheel came off the ground and then it touched the ground again, I got a little more speed. I couldn't stop the bike and there was nowhere to go. I have a fracture in my little finger but we have time for it to be ok for Valencia."

The only 'good' news for Hayden, Pedrosa and Honda is that Toni Elias deprived Rossi of the full 25 points on offer at Estoril - meaning that the Italian will take an eight, instead of 13-point, championship lead into the Valencia showdown in two week's time.

That is still enough to allow Rossi to finish second and take the title, but if Hayden wins with another rider - such as Pedrosa - third, then Nicky and Honda could sensationally snatch the crown.

"I've proved this weekend that I wasn't going to give up without a fight and even now I believe I'm pretty strong," insisted Nicky. "This was not one of my best tracks and I've come here and gone quick - I was fastest in one session, got on the front row and had a good race pace. I need Dani's help now because anything could happen in Valencia, so I hope they don't suspend him and that his hand's ok. I don't know if I'll forgive him, but I told him there's one way to make it up to me and that's if we run one-two in Valencia, then the championship's still possible. But let's be real, you don't give a guy like Rossi an eight-point lead - he just has to follow me at Valencia."

Hayden falling at a crowded first corner, or suffering a mechanical failure, would have been plain bad luck and all a part of racing - but losing a world championship lead because of a team-mate's suicidal attack was plain stupidity and may cause Honda to review the wording of its 'no teams orders' rule. Certainly, it appears that Pedrosa will now have to help Hayden at Valencia.

"This extraordinary season is not over yet. Obviously our target for the next race at Valencia is for Nicky to win and for Dani to finish second which would give Nicky the riders' championship title," confirmed team manager Makoto Tanaka.

Hayden and Pedrosa have already signed to spend the 2007 season as team-mates.