Austrian MotoGP Sprint start “dangerous, everybody was super lucky”

Saturday’s Austrian MotoGP Sprint got off to a dramatic start when Francesco Bagnaia and Fermin Aldeguer both spun their rear tyres on the dirty side of the grid, from third and sixth respectively.

As the pair swerved across the track, riders behind were forced into evasive action, fortunately without incident.

“It was quite dangerous, everybody was super lucky,” said factory Honda rider Luca Marini, who started 13th.

“We need to talk about this topic with the Safety Commission, because on Thursday, they asked us not to put tear-offs on the grid to try to avoid this kind of thing.

“But also, we need a little bit of effort from them, from the track, to try to clean the grid positions.

“It’s something really common, in the last two years, that the bikes start to spin a lot in the first part of the acceleration.

“It’s true that if a tear-off goes under the rear tyre, it’s dangerous. But also, dirty spots on the grid are dangerous.”

While Marini felt track conditions were the main cause, he also pointed to ever more aggressive ride-height devices tempting manufacturers to unleash maximum torque from the start.

“Especially at this track, where the braking is uphill, you can put the rear device full down, also in the front, and now the bike is scratching the ground,” he explained.

“It depends a little bit on the first braking. At some tracks, you have to start with the bike higher, like in Le Mans.

“But here you can go full down and then you can put full torque, already in second gear – and maybe first, some manufacturers.”

Joan Mir: "Consequences were chaos..."

Team-mate Joan Mir, who also lined up on the clean side of the grid, in tenth, suffered even more in the 'chaos'.

“I was last by the third corner!” said the 2020 MotoGP champion. 

“It was intense. I saw Pecco completely crossing the track, and then the consequence of that was chaos.

“I started on the left. And I was just trying to avoid what happened in the last four races [where he failed to finish]!”

Mir also suggested that black paint covering grid lines for other championships may have contributed.

“I saw that a couple of starting [grid] lines had another line that is like painted black,” he said.

“I don’t know if this type of thing was there for Pecco and Fermin. This is something they must check. Because if it’s produced by that, probably the fault is the track.

“But this track is generally quite grippy, so it’s not like Sepang, where [wheelspin] can happen more.”

Fortunately, Sunday's grand prix start passed without incident.