[five46]

MM really ignored all fundamentals of clean racing, undoubtedly.

The old man should have got over with the Marquez incident on the track instead of bringing it in the pits. That would have been a hallmark of a true sportsman. This is fantastic for Dorna though for the coming races.

A very bizarre race indeed in a long long time.

[Parth46]

Disgraceful!!! Utterly shameful!!! A defending world champion brings shame to the sport by having not one but several brain fades. He's a menace to this sport and to the safety of other riders. 30 seconds penalty is hardly enough.

How anyone can continue to idolize him despite his retarded antics is beyond my comprehension.

[ashwin.terminat]

While Marquez will earn plaudits for his God-mode riding today, he clearly looked a lot like the reckless racer he was years ago.

There are times I look at the incident between him and Rossi and think that Rossi left the door slightly ajar and Marquez thought he could get through. But better sense should've prevailed and he should've bided his time and gone past more safely considering the speed difference between the two. Bad judgment, paid the price.

While I understand he was keen to make the most of the opportunity given the pace he had, there was absolutely no need to barge into riders as he did throughout the race. While I cannot comment on the weight of the penalties he was given, I will say they were well deserved.

He lost the plot today - and paid for it. Hope the lost points don't come back to haunt him later in the season.

What a race from top-4, though! Nice to see Alex Rins doing so well after the horrid time he had last year.

[fz_rider]

You had to watch it to believe it ! The most bizzare race ever.

First of all congratulations to Crutchlow for the win, and for becoming the championship leader. He was strong all weekend, and that showed in the race. Zarco, another solid performance. God knows how many races he will have to wait before he wins. Rins is going to win a race for sure this season. He is quick on that Suzuki.
Miller simply didn't had it. Despite the headstart, the next four caught up with him.
Again congratulations to LCR Honda to claim championship lead. Good job.

And now to the race.
I've never such a start of race. The pole sitter awarded almost two rows of headstart, because he was on the right tyre choice. The race direction first declares it as a wet race. As soon as everyone lines up after the sighting lap, everyone apart from polesitter Miller, is back into pits.
Race direction goes for dry race. New grid positions are laid out.
As soon as warm up lap is done, Marquez loses throttle. He waves, tries to start the bike, gets it back to life. He should have started from the pits. Why was he sent back on grid? That was bizzare

Next thing, he just swoopes past Miller and gains healthy lead in just a couple of laps. He was on another planet today, when it comes to race pace. Even if he would started from pits, there was a chance for him for a win.
Anyways, he gets a drive through penalty. Again he is on the charge, almost taking out the elder Espargaro. For which he is asked to drop a place.
From then on he just makes everyone look like sitting ducks. Until, he takes out Rossi. That was a bad move. Very bad move. Rossi closed the gate, there was no chance for Marc to make the move. He could have moved past both Yamaha pretty easily. But what can you say, if it doesn't stick, it backfires.
The result, 30 seconds penalty. Which looked like 12 points for the race, became zero.

Now addressing the big elephant in the room.
Were the moves made by Marquez questionable? Absolutely ! Is a stricter penalty to be levied ? Maybe ! One race ban wouldn't be excessive.
But there is no reason for hate for Marc . When you look at the race, not a single rider had answer to his pace. Even after the drive through and another penalty, he was just 13 sec behind the leader.
So in his head, he had to take every chance possible. He was the quickest and it showed on the circuit.
Everybody knows, Marc takes his chances. But he isn't the only one. Didn't Zarco and Pedrosa touch earlier in the race. Or does somebody has to say, every move that Rossi makes is clean as whistle. All the top riders have to take chances. And the grid being so competitive this season, every point counts.
Look at today, the LCR team and rider are leading the championship.
I'm not defending Marquez here. As much as I love watching him push to the limits, I'm in awe of Rossi the way he is riding considering his age. Rossi will always be the benchmark to rate other riders.
So let's not bash Marquez.
Maybe, the rain came as bad omen for him. Everything went sour

[mayankk]

Two penalties in one race? Man, race direction HAS be wearing yellow colored glasses!

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by mayankk

Two penalties in one race? Man, race direction HAS be wearing yellow colored glasses!

Three, actually.

1 - Ride through for riding opposite to direction of race start
2 - Having to drop a place for the Espargaro incident
3 - 30 second penalty

[MonsterPatrol]

Originally Posted by fz_rider

...
Now addressing the big elephant in the room.
Were the moves made by Marquez questionable? Absolutely ! Is a stricter penalty to be levied ? Maybe ! One race ban wouldn't be excessive.
But there is no reason for hate for Marc . When you look at the race, not a single rider had answer to his place. Even after the drive through and another penalty, he was just 13 sec behind the leader.
...

Totally reckless by Marc. Unpardonable. Had phenomenal pace, should’ve remained patient. Should’ve been penalised immediately for not starting from the pits and creating confusion on the start line (although he blames the steward for giving him a thumbs up for the ‘ok’). He should’ve immediately been black flagged after the moves on Aleix and Morbidelli (was it?). Three strikes and you’re out. Race direction are a bunch of wussies. Not to mention lazy when handing out penalties. I agree with VR when he said in the debrief “ I don’t feel protect by Race direction” this coming from the most accomplished rider on the grid is a bad sign for the sport. Regarding the apology, MM should’ve gone alone not with his entourage.

PS: Zarco got away with highsiding Pedrosa, a potential race winner today. Could’ve even led the championship. Poor chap, he never has luck on his side.

[BlackPearl]

Marquez was dangerous today and I don't like him. But there is no point denying the fact that he is currently the best on that grid by a fair margin. I don't think Rossi can be a champion again with Marquez around, though I wish I am proven wrong.

[Joxster]

Here's the highlights of the race for anyone who missed it
Please ignore that it is in Italian, but this was the best video that's available. The videos published by the official MotoGP YouTube channel are crap.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJOUP_YIqJ0

Cheers

[Sheel]

Everything is fair in love and war, almost the same moves by Rossi against Stoner at Laguna Seca were hailed on by the yellow brigade and similar moves against GOAT is not fair...why double standards? I remember his moves against Gibernau as well.

[Happysmiles]

Motogp and Dorna have probably just doubled their viewership, thanks to MM 93.
Hot topic of discussion is what should be Race Direction doing to resolve this.
Fans on both sides going crazy on social media.
Motogp just got very very interesting.
Iam looking forward to April 22nd when they meet up again on the track.

[MonsterPatrol]

Originally Posted by Happysmiles

Hot topic of discussion is what should be Race Direction doing to resolve this.

One race ban won’t be excessive in my opinion.

[JayKis]

Originally Posted by Sheel

Everything is fair in love and war, almost the same moves by Rossi against Stoner at Laguna Seca were hailed on by the yellow brigade and similar moves against GOAT is not fair...why double standards? I remember his moves against Gibernau as well.

Rossi vs Gibernau, Rossi vs Biaggi, Rossi vs Stoner.

But to be honest, the occurrences were infrequent but nonetheless occurences and never punished for the same.

This guy is a total diva

https://www.crash.net/motogp/news/89...oyed-our-sport

"I'm okay but this is a very bad situation because he destroyed our sport, because he doesn’t have any respect for his rivals, never," said Rossi.

I’m scared on the track when I am with Marquez. I am scared today when I see his name on the pit board because I know that he come to me. So you have to think, to hope, that you don’t crash.

[five46]

This is an amazing pic. I don't remember when have I last seen such a grid in the last 17-18 years of watching motogp telecasts. Lets have a caption the photo contest for this



I came across it on motomatters blog and copyright with respective owners.

[aravind.anand]

While I was initially awed at the pace Marquez was setting after being pushed to 19th place, slowly somewhere along the way he lost the plot completely and went all out - reckless and dangerous. He was out there with a vengence and was definitely a threat to most of the racers out there. I fent the initial ride-through penalty was a little harsh, as the poor guy was only struggling to start his bike which had stalled on the grid. But the final 30 second penalty seemed just right considering the way he wrestled on the track.

Rossi has had such incidents too, but they were far in between, and mostly a fight with one of the riders for a definite position - not a mission demolition like what Marques was on yesterday.

So Marc went from 1st to 19th, and then climbed position after position, lap after lap to wrestle his way to 5th, and then get a 30 second penalty only to end up 18th at the end!
In all, a very bizzare race - just like the commentators kept mentioning.