“Maybe we need to reconsider”: Pecco Bagnaia questions Assen MotoGP Sprint penalty

Francesco Bagnaia says he wants to “rewatch the image” of the incident that led to his penalty in the Assen MotoGP Sprint.

Bagnaia was running in sixth for most of the Sprint, but in trying to pass Jorge Martin for fifth on the exit of the last chicane on the final lap he touched the green part on the outside of the kerb with part (not all, but MotoGP’s track limits rules have stipulated for several years that only part of a tyre needs to touch the green part of the run-off area for it to be considered a track limits breach) of his tyre, and got the standard one-position penalty for exceeding track limits on the last lap, dropping him to seventh.

The Ducati Lenovo Team rider explained afterwards that he touched the green to avoid hitting Martin.

“He exited very badly from the last chicane, so I just tried to go on the inside but it was the line and I was hitting him, so I needed to move over on the green,” Francesco Bagnaia explained after the Sprint.

“Honestly, I want to rewatch the image because I think more than half the time I was on the kerb, so it’s a bit on the limit this penalty. But it’s like this right now. 

“Maybe the sensor is too close to the kerb and there’s no margin of error. 

“I just want to ask Crafar [MotoGP chief steward] maybe to refresh a bit my idea of the green on that because I think I was there because I was catching from behind, so it was a safety manoeuvre and I didn’t touch the green fully.

“Maybe we need to reconsider this in case of safety.”

Bagnaia was close to destroying his race at the start, too. In some ways he did, because in trying to avoid jumping the start he got a poor launch that ultimately cost him a shot at battling for the win, in his opinion.

“Honestly, it was my mistake,” he said. “I was too [eager] and I was close to getting the right to penalty. 

“I was releasing the clutch with the red light still on, so I needed to re-catch the clutch and, as soon as I released, it was a bit more aggressive – that was my mistake. 

“I just got stuck too many laps behind Marc [Marquez] and as soon as I was able to overtake him, I opened the gap and was catching back Martin. 

“But I think the potential was very high – much higher than this [sixth]. 

“I was able to fight with Raul [Fernandez] and Ogura today, but with that start it was impossible.”

Bagnaia’s weakest points on the track were the two fastest left-handers: turns seven and 15. The Italian said he was suffering with vibrations in these corners.

“Many vibrations, too much vibrations today,” he said. “Corner seven and 15, I was vibrating like hell and it was not possible to stay close to Martin in that case. 

“But I know that Marc also had the same issue, so it’s difficult to understand because we never had this here; yesterday, we didn’t, today this morning, we didn’t, so it appeared just today and we need to understand why.”

Despite the setbacks, Bagnaia’s potential in the Sprint was encouraging. Coming one week on from his Sprint win in Czechia, the 28-year-old seems to have figured out the half-distance races after struggling with them even in his title years.

“I’m two years late to understand what to do in the Sprints,” he said. 

“If I recognize that I can do it, I do it, but if I can’t recognize that, it’s better to finish, I just try to finish. 

“Before, it was not every time like this, I was over-pushing maybe too much sometimes. 

“I think just with the points I did in the sprint until now, I would say I’m winning the title in 2024, so it’s an improvement.”