Jerez GP: Why wasn’t Marc Márquez penalized? Brivio disagrees

Marquez victorious after a crash, a debated trip back to the pits, and his well-known talent: here’s the story of his Sprint in Spain.

A triumphant Saturday for Marc Marquez at Jerez de la Frontera, where he took pole position and then won the MotoGP sprint race. In the mixed conditions of Q2 he was the best of all, with only Johann Zarco really challenging him, but in the afternoon he risked scoring no points at all. Starting from pole, he was immediately reeled in by Alex and then overtaken. Then came the rain, the slide at Turn 13 right by the pit lane entry, which he reached after getting back on the bike and making a hotly debated shortcut; after jumping on the Ducati with rain tires, he rejoined the race and only had to deal with Pecco Bagnaia before triumphing. Muscling past his teammate, he built the gap needed to reach the finish line alone. The 12 points he earned are significant, especially in light of the double DNF for the factory Aprilia riders: in the overall standings he is 24 points behind leader Marco Bezzecchi.

Interviewed by Sky Sport MotoGP, the nine-time world champion recounted how he experienced today’s sprint race: "Not much clarity today. I don’t know if you have it in Italy, but here today it’s Saint Marc, Saint Mark. Some saint helped me, because being clear-headed would have meant pitting on the lap when I crashed. I was thinking about it, since Turns 6, 7 and 8 were very wet. But there were 4 laps left and we were expecting light rain, not heavy, so I stayed out. When I crashed, the bike didn’t switch off, I waited for the whole group to pass and then I tried to get on the bike with rain tires to see what would happen. When I went down the straight I saw P3, I fought with Pecco and then I found myself in P1. I found myself there, I didn’t seek it."

Cutting across track and grass sparked debate, but Marquez had no doubts when he had to decide what to do right after the crash at Turn 13: "It was instinctive for me - he explains - I had no doubt that it wasn’t allowed, because it was a situation of force majeure after a crash. The bike wasn’t in condition to do a lap, but it was fine to get to the pits without cutting any corners and without endangering the other riders. Tomorrow they might add a new line to the rulebook, you never know, but for now there’s nothing written."

He won today and is enjoying the 12 points earned, but on Sunday at Jerez he expects other riders could finish ahead of him, especially his brother: "Alex was much stronger than everyone yesterday - he confirms - and we saw it again at the start today; in two laps he almost gained a second on me. He’s the favorite, but Bezzecchi and Di Giannantonio are strong too. We’ll see, I’ll try to get a good start, then we don’t know how the tires and everyone’s pace will be in the second half of the race."

After Marc’s maneuver, several teams asked Race Direction for clarification to understand whether it was legal or if there were grounds for a penalty. Davide Brivio, also speaking to Sky Sport MotoGP, doesn’t seem to agree with how the rules were interpreted: "They informed us there will be no action and that everything was regular. Before every weekend we receive protocols that also indicate the pit lane entry and exit, because every circuit is different. The protocol says that when entering the pit lane you cannot cross the inside line, which in this case is on the left, so as not to gain an advantage. But it says nothing about the outside line."

Marquez was not penalized precisely because he didn’t cross the inside line, but the Trackhouse Racing team manager believes there was still a basis to punish the Ducati Lenovo rider: "As a general concept, the regulations also say that you must use only the track and only the pit lane with the bike. If you leave the track, you must follow the marshals’ instructions: in this case there weren’t any and Marc couldn’t follow them. The rules also say you must not gain any unfair advantage. Then each person can draw their own conclusion, but at that moment he had already decided not to enter the pit lane and should have done one more lap. Having crashed, he took the opportunity to enter the pit lane by cutting across the grass. Everyone can decide whether that was an advantage or not. He didn’t violate the regulation, because he didn’t cut the inside of the pit lane, but whether he gained from entering as we saw, I’ll let you judge..."

His stance is very clear: Marquez should have been penalized. Those called upon to assess and decide determined that the rules were not violated: the Spaniard did not cross the inside pit entry line, only the outside one, and he did so in total safety. The discussions will continue, but in the meantime the Ducati Lenovo team is enjoying the one-two, as Pecco Bagnaia finished second on the other red bike.