“Motorsport is dangerous”, we know it, we read it as we enter the tracks, the riders know it and we know it too, no one forces us. But what happens when we see it, as we did today in the GP of Catalunya? What happens when the accidents, the danger, are thrown in front of our eyes? What happens is that it scares us because the evidence that in the racing game, lives are at stake, is frightening.
In the second restart, Luca Marini must surely have trembled at seeing Zarco's leg trapped in the wheel of Bagnaia's Ducati after the crash that involved all three. He thought of the pain he felt after his crash in Suzuka.
However, “the show must go on” and so Luca returned to the pits, changed bikes, swapped his scuffed suit, and rushed to line up for the 11 laps of the third restart, finishing in sixth position (after the penalty to Joan Mir for tyre pressure) on a day that could have gone much worse, a day where the results mattered little to anyone.
“I think today the first thing to say is to wish Zarco and Marquez a speedy recovery - Marini began - Especially for Zarco I feel very sorry. I saw the leg, it's clearly visible what happened, and I saw myself again in Suzuka after the accident. Now that the tension of the race has passed, with the concentration and everything else, I really feel bad about this. Obviously, unlike Suzuka, here the interventions came immediately. Fortunately, there were doctors, an ambulance, everything. Let's hope he can feel less pain as soon as possible, which I think is the most important thing right now. The recovery will then take its time.”
Don't you find it a bit too extreme to be sent back on track ten minutes after an accident about which you know nothing? You don't know if your colleagues are okay or not and this might compromise concentration, right?
“I think it is part of what is required of us MotoGP riders. We are the best riders in the world and must be ready for this too. We know motorsport is very dangerous, motorcycles are very dangerous. We have the utmost respect for each other and never want anything serious to happen. Health and safety come first. But we also know how important the sport is for all the fans. In the end, what's the other solution? Wait longer? The race must be run.”
How do you manage two restarts? You were also involved in the second crash.
"You try to stay focused and repeat your procedure each time. You also hope to have a bit of time. I was involved in the crash, so I had to rush back, change, do everything very quickly. But everyone has their techniques to regain maximum concentration.”
There's also talk of this start being very far from the first corner, where you arrive very fast and all close together. Couldn't the grid be moved forward?
“No, it can't be moved. We have already asked, but it can't be done. Also because then the descent would begin, so it can't be pushed forward too much. I believe already the fact that in the future there will be no more lowering devices can be a point in our favour. Because right now you know that on the first braking fork travel is 150 mm. With the devices, some use it at 130, 135, because you know you'll get to the bottom and brake like crazy. For example, in the third restart, I couldn't stop the bike because the device got stuck. It was even more dangerous: I did the first two corners with the device hooked, then I had to pull the bike up and bump it to unlock it. We can't wait for this stuff to end…” confessed the Honda rider.
Wouldn't it be better to ban the devices at the start already this year? At least on some tracks.
“We have already talked about it. It will come up, we'll see. We are trying to get all the teams to agree. In my opinion, as we have also said in the Safety Commission and as Pecco said, it's a shame that often there are very few of us there. I think it's important that we riders stay united. We need to get everyone to agree and make it a step towards safety.”
Will this regulatory change be achieved already for Mugello?
“Mugello is like here: everyone with the devices down and going full speed. For that, it needs to be resolved quickly. But on tracks like Silverstone, it can be different, we'll see. In the end, it's not all the fault of the lowering devices, because crashes happened before too.”
Here at Barcelona, we also saw more than one rider hit the air fences after crashes. Is this a safe track?
“In my opinion, the track is very safe. The incident with Alex was really unfortunate. Even if you have all the space in the world, something like that can happen. Bikes are dangerous, guys. We are all here ready to risk our skin at every corner, every lap. Unfortunately, it's part of our sport, but it's also its beauty and if this feeling reaches the audience, it gains even more value.”
Going back to the lack of attendance in the Safety Commission, were there three of you? Pecco said often there are few of you.
“Very often there are three of us, yes. We can say that 90% of the time Jack is there. This Friday there were also Franco, Martin, and Bezzecchi, and it was a pleasure to have them with me. Pecco is our representative and in my opinion, he is the right figure.”
Some say that when there were many of you, nothing was resolved, because everyone had to give their opinion. Maybe with four or five, you decide better.
“For me, it's better to have everyone. The problem is we need to all agree and have a bit more communication among ourselves. The truth is we are increasingly stressed. It's very difficult, during a race weekend, to have the mental energy to dedicate to things that are not the track”.
Today the results themselves were somewhat overshadowed. But how did your race go?
“With the first medium rear tyre, the one for a normal race, I had very good feelings. Then after the first red flag, we fitted a new soft tyre, but after the crash, that soft couldn’t be used anymore. I had to fit another medium. But the problem wasn't just that: on the other bike, the one I used for the last start, the clutch was new. So I wasn't perfect at the start, I lost a lot of positions, and there the race got quite complicated.”
We also saw many “under investigations” for tyre pressures from parc fermé. This is strange too, right?
“The rule is this: you must set the correct pressures. I can only respond like this. If the regulation is written that way, we must just follow it. At most, we can change it for the future”, concluded the HRC rider before being promoted to sixth place after the penalty assigned to Joan Mir.