Aprilia boss critical of MotoGP stewards after Marquez/Bezzecchi crash in Qatar

Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola says his opinion on the Marc Marquez/Marco Bezzecchi crash in the Qatar MotoGP sprint is unchanged, and is critical of how the stewards handled it.

The pair collided at Turn 1 on the fourth lap of Saturday’s sprint while battling for the lead, with Bezzecchi crashing out.

Marquez stayed on his Ducati and went on to win the sprint, setting up his title match point for Sunday’s race and all but eliminating Bezzecchi from contention.

The FIM stewards deemed it a racing incident, though Rivola was clearly unhappy with this decision in the moment.

“I have the same opinion 24 hours later as after 24 seconds”

Speaking about the incident for the first time on Sunday evening ahead of the 22-lap grand prix, Rivola says his opinion on the clash is unchanged.

He also took aim at the stewards for not investigating the matter further, as he feels the championship impact warranted that.

“First of all, I was disappointed because Marco deserved to stay in the fight until the very end, considering the whole season, I would say,” Rivola told the MotoGP world feed.

“And he’s out of the championship. After 24 hours, I have the same opinion as after 24 seconds.

“For me, it was quite easy to judge.

“But I think time is also a painkiller, but also time is an interesting point of view because that kind of incident, considering the impact on the championship, I think it would deserve a more appropriate and deeper analysis, maybe after the sprint, listening to both riders to express an opinion and then eventually a penalty of no further action.

“Because, at the end, in the sprint you get the penalty for the following day.

“I think that the [stewards] panel has a difficult job, but in this kind of crash there is an easy rule to follow, and that is who is predominantly to blame.

“And the first rule to judge that is who could have avoided the crash. And you can judge by yourself.”

It is worth noting that penalties are assessed based on actions rather than consequences.

As such, the potential championship impact would not have been a factor in the stewards’ decision.

“Do you think Bez could have done differently?”

Some have argued that the onus was on Marquez to leave more space for Bezzecchi, though the Aprilia was clearly behind going into the corner.

Marquez defended himself, noting that he used the racing line he’d been running all weekend in that moment.

“I mean, I think the question is what do you think Bez could have done differently,” Rivola asked.

“Marc did just what he would normally do, but there was someone else in his way. So, I mean, it was not Marco to go in the direction of Marc, but it was the opposite.”