‘Because it’s Marquez, everybody wants to put the knife in’

The legality of modifying Marquez’s original penalty for taking out Miguel Oliveira from being served in ‘Argentina’ to ‘his next MotoGP race’ has now been sent to the MotoGP Court of Appeal.

If Repsol Honda is successful, it means that Marquez will not need to serve the penalty since (like Oliveira) he is missing this weekend’s Argentine event due to his injuries.

But of greater concern for the MotoGP riders questioned on Thursday in Termas de Rio Hondo was the general level of consistency, in terms of when and what penalties are applied by the FIM Stewards.

“We have to ask for a clearer idea, about the penalties,” said reigning world champion and double Portimao race winner Francesco Bagnaia. “It is difficult to understand.

• FIM Appeal Stewards refer Marc Marquez penalty to MotoGP Court of Appeal
• Keith Huewen: ‘Marc Marquez will do whatever it takes’
• Jack Miller: Weird being on other side of Ducati power!

“An example from last year in FP1 at Misano; I slowed down because I thought I saw the chequered flag, but I took a three-place grid position penalty. In qualifying after my best lap, I was trying to improve my lap time, but four riders were on the line going slow. So I missed my lap. Nobody said anything to these riders. It’s difficult to know what they’re doing with the sanction with Marc…”

Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, second to Bagnaia in the main Portimao race, agreed – but highlighted that every racing incident is different.

“For me, we must believe the choices and penalties are correct,” Vinales said. “It is very complicated. You can see things in different ways. We must follow one rule - but it’s difficult to arrive at a conclusion for the rule.

“This is racing - no two situations will ever be in the same. Maybe we can improve but the Stewards have a big job and it’s complicated.”

On the eve of the Portimao weekend, the FIM Stewards tried to improve consistency and understanding of their decisions by outlining an escalating series of penalties, starting with long lap(s) for a first offence, for dangerous riding that causes an accident for another rider.

But there was soon controversy when Joan Mir received a penalty for barging into Fabio Quartararo (but not knocking him down) in the Sprint, while Luca Marini wasn’t sanctioned for a clash that left Enea Bastianini with a broken shoulder in the same race.

Then came the Marquez-Martin-Oliveira incident, where - putting aside the wording of the decision - some felt a stronger punishment was needed, but that would not have fitted with the penalty sequence given on Thursday.

“It’s difficult to put rules on these situations, like overtaking, battles, contact,” said VR46s Marco Bezzecchi. “There are too many situations that can happen. It would be nice to have clear ideas. But I understand the work that the Stewards do is very difficult. We have the Safety Commission to speak together and find solutions. We want things to be clearer and better, this is the target.”

‘Because it’s Marquez, everybody wants to put the knife in’

While agreeing with the need for consistency and penalties for injuring another rider, Jack Miller felt some of the contact seen at Portimao was partly a consequence of first-round high jinks and that the Marquez incident has been blown out of proportion.

“That’s what is going to happen, four months off the bike and everybody is trying to prove themselves, prove something. Tempers are going to flare. Guys are going to push to the maximum. That’s how it goes, that’s how this sport is,” said the Red Bull KTM rider.

“Unfortunately in this sport, accidents can happen. When there is an incident, and you’re wrong, there needs to be a consequence. But we need consistency. We ask for consistency. Look at crashes [like Taka’s or Alex’s with me, there were big hits last year. But because it’s Marquez, everybody wants to put the knife in.

“I’m not sticking up for him, he made a mistake, he knows what he did. But there’s too much talk about it. Everybody wants to say ‘he hit me’. This is racing. Of course, there’s a line. The difficult bit is where to draw the line because every time it moves.

“The Stewards are trying their best, and we’re trying as athletes to better the sport and put in these consistent measures. If you hit somebody, you cause him to be out of the race, so that’s it, a penalty.

“Ban people from a race? I don’t agree, it’s not a fair sporting act to ban someone immediately. Where do you draw the line? It’s constantly moving.”