En Aragon, we saw a MotoGP qualifying session which looked very similar to that of Moto3. Some drivers, at the end of their exercise, seemed to be lost on the track, waiting for a good wheel to improve their performance. A situation which moved certain pilots including Jorge Lorenzo. And an attitude that should not be seen changing into habit…
It's common in Moto3 and it's rather rare in MotoGP. But in Aragon, it was obvious that drivers lacking performance were looking for the slipstream of a competitor to take advantage of their trajectories. A process which is not new, but which is annoying. So Jorge Lorenzo who commented: “ in my opinion, they must penalize riders who wait a lot for others on the track. In MotoGP, we have big bikes, and theoretically the best are in MotoGP, those with the most experience, the oldest. And normally they don't need to wait to be pulled by another driver to improve lap times ».
« In Aragon we saw qualifying like a Moto3 race or a Tour de France, and in my opinion it shouldn't be like that in MotoGP. In Moto3, it shouldn't be like that, either, but even less so in MotoGP ».
For its part, Cal Crutchlow completed by providing certain names: “ if you want to name a few runners, Dovi doesn't want Marc to follow him and Marc doesn't want Dovi to follow him. Iannone wants to follow Dovi or Marc, Petrucci wants to follow Dovi or Marc. Lorenzo, I didn't see him so I would say he did his trick alone. “The other guys like Alex Rins or Petrucci can't do their turn alone, so they have to follow someone. I like to spend my time alone. If you do your time with someone in front of you, you look at them and not with what you do ».
However, Crutchlow stressed that the situation was not “dangerous”, while Marquez et Dovizioso agreed that this did not warrant sanctions. Marquez argued that “ the race is like thisa”, while the Ducat official declared: “ it's difficult. What happened in Aragon is borderline, but not enough to penalize anyone"
There were still no penalties with Vinales et Morbidely who hindered Smith during Q.1: “what I saw in Q2 was part of the race, what I saw in Q1 was dangerous, in my opinion“, said the KTM official. “ It's frustrating when guys stop, but it's part of the game."
