Di Giannantonio won't stand for it, post-race outburst: "You can't take risks like this"

The Roman rider was involved in the crash triggered by Martin at the start of the Hungarian GP: he is disappointed with what happened.

Unfortunately, the MotoGP race at the Balaton Park Circuit was marked by a negative episode right after the start. In Turn 1 Jorge Martin touched Marco Bezzecchi and triggered a massive pile-up that also involved Fermin Aldeguer, Raul Fernandez, and Fabio Di Giannantonio. They all fell, but only Diggia managed to get back on the bike and continue the race. Even after finding himself far behind, the Roman managed to get into the points: twelfth at the finish, so 4 points scored. He is still third in the overall standings, but Pedro Acosta (second today) has closed to -6.

The Pertamina Enduro VR46 team rider spoke to Sky Sport MotoGP, not hiding his regrets about what happened, because he felt he had podium potential: "In the first two laps I was really nauseous, maybe because of the lunch I had. Then, once I settled my stomach, I started to push and tried to get as close as possible to the guys in front to bring home some points. After looking at some data post-race, it really burns, because on the first lap I was 20 seconds from the leader and I finished at 28. With an 8-second gap to the winner, I would have been third, so it’s a missed podium, unfortunately."

Di Giannantonio gave it his all after the Turn 1 crash and showed that the changes made to his Ducati Desmosedici GP26 worked: "Today the team made a nice change to the bike after Warm Up. I trusted them completely and they nailed it, we had a great bike and a great opportunity. It stings a bit, what a pity."

The 27-year-old Roman does not hide his disappointment with Martin’s move, which in his view was too aggressive and optimistic: "When you start from the back, you know you’ve got 5-10 bikes in front of you and especially on tracks like this, if you’re all the way on the inside, you can’t expect maximum grip or to have room for mistakes. If you get it wrong, you take out five of them. Today we actually got off lightly. I don’t want to single out Jorge, I mean everyone: it’s fine to be aggressive, but to take such big risks... When a 160-kilo bike comes at you, it’s really dangerous."

There has often been talk of the influence that holeshot devices have on starts and the possible abolition already during the 2026 MotoGP season, with the goal of reducing risks. Diggia, however, believes the central issue is another: "For me it’s not so much the device’s fault, which oddly enough even makes you go straighter when you launch, it’s that when you get to Turn 1 you need to be a bit calmer and more precise. We’re riders, we’re the best in the world. Damn... We should be almost setting an example. I don’t like pointing fingers, because it’s something that could happen to me too, but we need to pay more attention."

Di Giannantonio is right, everyone needs to be careful at the start, especially on circuits with a somewhat particular first corner. At Balaton Park there were various discussions about the layout of the first chicane (and more), where there was also a resurfacing that created some grip issues. Unfortunately, Martin made a mistake and other riders paid the price as well. Fortunately, there were no serious physical consequences, just some bruises.