MotoGP stewards’ decision on Barcelona crash only ‘good for the show’

LCR Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami crashed at Turn 1 in Sunday’s race at the start trying to recover ground from 12th on the grid, wiping out Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia with his head and taking Suzuki’s Alex Rins down with his errant RC213V.

Rins – who slammed the stewards for dismissing the accident as a racing incident – has a potential broken left wrist, while Nakagami was in hospital being treated for unspecified injuries.

The incident and decision from the stewards has prompted a massive debate among the riders, with Morbidelli – was 13th in the race – says only “the show” benefits from this incident as it will be spread across social media.

“If we think for show, yes,” Morbidelli said when asked if the stewards’ decision was correct.

“For the riders, no. I’m being sincere. This video is going to be seen by thousands, millions, of people, this huge bomb in Turn 1 at 250km/h.

“It’s our job, it is, it’s like this.

“I mean, I’m cynical, but life is cynical, MotoGP is cynical sometimes, sport is cynical.

“If you are here caring for the other, racing would be much nicer. But many things are involved.”

This incident has led to a debate as to whether MotoGP Race Direction is doing enough to protect the riders by dissuading problematic behaviour, with Rins and Nakagami also involved in a clash at Mugello in which no penalty was handed out.

Morbidelli agrees that more could be done on this side, but the onus must be on the riders on track to “use their head more” and be aware of the safety of those around them.

“I think that some people should use their head more, when they are racing,” he added.

“We are racing, the price is high. We all want to achieve great results, we all want a lot and we are all…