Angry Francesco Bagnaia fumes: “Not a racing incident, the space is not there”

Francesco Bagnaia believes that Brad Binder should have been penalised for the clash which ended his sprint race at the Spanish MotoGP.

Bagnaia conceded crucial ground in the championship by not finishing Saturday’s sprint, after being sandwiched between Binder and Marco Bezzecchi.

KTM’s Binder cut inside the factory Ducati rider and the VR46 rider at the apex of Turn 1. But Bezzecchi turned in, when Binder expected him to stay wide, causing Bagnaia to become stuck and crash.

It was deemed a racing incident.

Bagnaia was asked for his reaction by TNT Sports and mulled over his words before replying: “Nothing to say.

“For me, it was not a racing incident.

“Because you are trying to overtake two riders. 

“The space is not there, so you can’t.

“Race Direction decided to say it was a racing incident. So I have nothing to say.”

At the Portuguese MotoGP, Bagnaia clashed with Marc Marquez and it was deemed a racing incident.

Bagnaia has now said: “To clarify, in Portimao after a small contact, I lost one hour to speak with Race Direction for what happened with Marc.

“This was much worse and nothing happened.

“The balance on the penalties are not correct, for me.

“Maybe we need to speak with them to say that they need to be more precise.”

Without the abrupt end to his race, Bagnaia believes he would have claimed important points.

“Yes. It was an easy podium,” he said.

“For sure, a difficult race with patches on the ground, the conditions were tricky.

“But the pace was slow. I was stronger and faster than the guys at the front.

“It was difficult to find a line because the battle in front was too much, it was useless.

“It was difficult to overtake.

“I started seventh and was already fifth after two corners.

“Fabio was 23rd and was 11th after the first lap.

“So there is something we can do…”

Bagnaia is 42 points behind championship leader Jorge Martin before the grand prix in Jerez.