The debate about harsh penalties for Moto3 and MotoGP riders at the Portuguese Grand Prix on social media is gaining momentum: several of the strongest riders in these classes have lost their chances of a podium and victory, having lost their best laps due to fines imposed by the Stewards, or after analysis of situations in the Directorate … But this is not enough, says Ales Espargaro.
We are talking, first, about a monetary fine and a pit lane start for John McPhee and Jeremy Alcoba for a fight after the Doha incident, as well as a pit lane start for Darrin Binder and Dennis Onju for a dangerous FP2 ride in Moto3; secondly, about the deprivation of pole position and the best lap of Francesco Bagnai and Maveric Viñales in MotoGP. As for McPhee and Alcoba, there are no particular differences of opinion: they got off easily for a fight on the air, in addition, they had to publicly apologize and shake hands with each other. Both qualified in Portimao on the 1-2 lines and could fight for the victory, but lost everything due to intemperance. McPhee has been punished enough – he has not earned a point and has seriously rolled back in the Moto3 general classification. Alcoba managed to snatch a couple of points at the finish line. Onju and Binder paid more or less justifiably for interfering with other pilots’ fast laps. Here, the discussions do not differ too much in judgments: guilty, what to do! .. But Vinales was so depressed by his transfer to the 12th position that after the race he created a conflict situation in the social network and eventually lost his Twitter account. Banyaya, of course, was also very upset that he was deprived of a new lap record, but Ducati decided to accept the situation “as it is” and come to terms with the tough decision of the Directorate. In addition, the fact that the pilot did not notice the flag, which really was – is proven. Vinales was deprived of a fast lap for hitting the green, and this happened automatically, thanks to the triggering of sensors installed by Dorna Sports at the entire circuit – it is impossible to find fault with the work of the Stewards! Banyaya complained that the passage under the yellow flags and, as a result, the cancellation of the lap time – a) did not threaten anyone and anything, b) that he simply did not see the yellow flags and / or the signal on the light panel. Aleš Espargaro, the second oldest and most experienced MotoGP pilot after Valentino Rossi, is confident that the Directorate and the Steward Panel acted quite right. Unlike most MotoGP representatives, Espargaro believes that the Directorate is still acting too softly and loyally towards the Premier class pilots.