After a good start to the championship, in the last few races Acosta has brought out his normal rookie shortcomings by crashing often and making a few too many mistakes, not even sparing himself from getting involved in some mischief. A curious episode regarding the KTM talent was told by Johann Zarco to the Crashnet website and it concerns the recent Malaysian GP.
The French Honda rider wanted to take advantage of the slipstream of the more performing RC16 to qualify, but something went wrong.
"After my first tyre, I didn't know how to go much faster and I wanted to follow someone. But I couldn't catch Pedro because he went very fast in the pit lane. I think he switched off the limiter! He did it two time, in Australia and here. He knows that the penalty is 1,500 euros. So he knows that when he wants to catch someone, it will be 1,500 euros. That's the MotoGP style, when we get more more," the LCR rider joked.
Currently this strategy is feasible because if you can prove that you were not keeping an exaggerated pace you can be fined for just one time exceeding the 60 km/h allowed in the pit lane, however, the regulations point out that three infractions during the same event can lead to additional penalties.
As reported by Simon Crafar, from 2025 president of FIM MotoGP, the "non-excessive speeding" rule will be changed and then this game might no longer be worthwhile.