MotoGP rivals blast each other as “not intelligent” after Indonesia clash

In an incident-packed Indonesian MotoGP, the incident between Luca Marini and Raul Fernandez was perhaps not among the main flashpoints, but that does not mean the two riders involved did not have their opinions.

Fernandez and Marini were both bottled up behind Pedro Acosta in the opening half of the 27-lap race.

Marini tried twice to pass Acosta – whom he praised afterwards for his defensive riding – but failed on both occasions, which prompted Fernandez to try a pass on the Italian at turn 16.

However, the two then touched when Marini tried to close the door on Fernandez at turn 17. Fernandez dropped to fifth, Marini to eighth, although Marini came back to fifth in the end while Fernandez took sixth.

“Maybe one of the keys during the race was when I touched with Luca [Marini],” Raul Fernandez said after the Indonesian MotoGP.

“I overtook in turn 16 and I was super-clean to overtake him, I stopped the bike well; when he saw me he tried to close more the line, and in that moment he made something that maybe for me is not super-intelligent. 

“It’s something that you can do but for me it’s not an intelligent move that he made, because in the moment that he saw that I was in the same position with him, he changed the line to try to put the bike inside. 

“In that moment – so sorry, but I don’t have the bike ready to make the last corner and I touched with him – I make my corner as normal, maybe the history is a little bit different. 

“We don’t know, we just know that we have information for tomorrow and we try again. 

“Of course, I think we deserve more than what we get today, but we have four more opportunities to try to go again.”

Marini: “It’s a pity”

Marini, when asked himself about the incident with Fernandez, argued that, in fact, it was the Trackhouse Aprilia rider who had been “not intelligent” because the incident between them cost both riders a podium.

“I think just that Raul [Fernandez] was not intelligent because me and him, apart from Bez [Marco Bezzecchi] and Fermin [Aldeguer], we had the best pace of everybody and we can be easily on the podium – both together – and it would be a fantastic result for Honda, for Aprilia, for his team also, for all the guys,” Luca Marini said.

“It’s a pity, also, for all the people that work really hard, that don’t ‘cheers’, don’t have a party tonight, for this adventure. 

“I think he saw that I was trying to overtake Pedro every lap in two or three places, and it was just a matter of time. 

“So, just it was not a fantastic move from Raul. 

“I closed my line because I knew it, that he was there, so I wanted to be in front to try again on Pedro because I was very fast and it was just a matter of laps that I completed my overtake on Pedro. 

“It’s just a pity for all the guys that are working for us, for me and for Aprilia also.”

Marini was told of Fernandez’s displeasure at the incident.

“He’s unhappy, okay, but he completely pushed me out,” the Honda HRC rider responded.

“I don’t know what he wants that another rider does during the race. Just let him past? I don’t know. 

“It’s a little bit strange that he’s angry because he lost just a position, I lost five. So I’m the one that is angry for this.”