On the arrival of a Argentine Grand Prix put into sections regulated by a Marc Márquez untouchable, not everyone fell into each other's arms in a closed park in the grip of jubilation. There was indeed a rather annoyed Cal Crutchlow, visibly looking for someone for a man-to-man explanation. The Englishman entered the Viñales box with his chief mechanic on his heels, as if to prevent an irreparable action. A grievance against the Yamaha rider? No. But a lot of anger against the commissioner Freddie spencer certainly…
Because it was from the former World Champion, now converted into a circuit official, that this penalty for early departure came. A decision which ruined the LCR driver's good start to the race. And there was reason to be frustrated since this sanction was imposed under the seal of injustice...
The regulations stipulate that drivers must play salt statues on frozen motorcycles before the lights go out. And we see Crutchlow move slightly. The pilot explains: “ I moved slightly to find my balanced ". And it should be remembered that he has an ankle that is still recovering. The rest is the chief engineer Christophe Bourguigon which brings him: “ to start stealing the start you must first release the clutch, and Cal didn't release the clutch until the lights went out. So there was no false start. However, race management obviously had a different opinion, they can see the bike moving slightly, but it's not through the clutch release ».
Here is the video from Race Direction showing Crutchlow's jump start at the #ArgentinaGP
The explanation of how he was penalized for this can be found under article 1.18 section 14 of the rule book (see the tweet below for full description). pic.twitter.com/1zWN2PG0pO
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) March 31, 2019
He adds : " you can see in the idle a very small movement of the bike, but Cal didn't release the clutch before that and he didn't go. Now we have Freddie Spencer in race management, I expected him to have a little more common sense to understand that the front fork doesn't move, that the front fork doesn't relax, that there is no engine power to the rear wheel. I'm a little disappointed, I expected a little more common sense in this matter ».
Crutchlow, he is more than disappointed… “ My opinion of Freddie as a racing director has taken a hit ", said Crutchlow à BT Sport to the question of whether the punishment was justified. “ I thought he would make better decisions for us drivers, since he comes from racing, that he would understand things a lot more. But it seems not. It's not a disrespect to him at all, because what he's done in his career is fantastic. I simply do not agree with the sanction he imposed on me. I also wonder if he would have given the same penalty to Marc or Valentino or Dovi if they had moved like I did with my foot to find my balance ". The question is asked…
It will be recalled that, despite this injustice, Nakagami's teammate, eighth at Termas, continued to attack to move up to thirteenth...
Ranking MotoGP Argentine Grand Prix at Termas de Rio Hondo :
Classification credit:
MotoGP.com
