Pol Espargaró: "I feel like I've been hit by a truck"

Pol Espargaró crashed twice at turn 1, under braking at the end of the straight, in the short space of seven minutes during the FP1 of the German Grand Prix, suffering in the second accident a very strong blow against the asphalt with his chest and the left arm, the side towards which 10 of the 13 curves of the Sachsenring turn.

The Catalan underwent rehabilitation in the afternoon and took painkillers and anti-inflammatories, in addition to an injection of analgesics on Saturday morning, something that only partially mitigated his “severe pain”, but that did not “work as expected” that compromised his direct passage to Q2. In the timed play-off session, moreover, he was only 4 thousandths away from making the cut.

“It’s been a difficult day, very difficult” summed up Honda’s at the end of the day.

“I have the feeling as if a truck had run over me, especially I feel a lot of pain in my ribs and I find it hard to breathe on the bike,” he said.

“The reality is that I expected it to be better today, but it was a little worse. When I got up in the morning I felt very bad and during the day things did not improve much”.

Given this scenario, the doctors intensified the pilot’s medication.

“In the afternoon I had two injections to try to reduce the inflammation and take some painkillers, but it didn’t work as expected and I suffered a lot.

Despite everything, Espargaró tried to get to Q2, but he stayed at the same door.

“I missed getting into Q2 by four thousandths. It just shows how tight everything is and if you’re not fit enough you can’t get anything interesting.”

This same Saturday Alex Rins, from Suzuki, announced that he was giving up continuing to participate in the German Grand Prix due to the pain he suffered in his left hand, injured in the accident at the start of Barcelona.

However, for Pol Espargaró, the option of stopping and coming back more recovered next week in Assen is not in his calculations, although there is not much point in running if he physically cannot bear the pain.

“Yes, it does, to get points. I need to run, it’s my job,” settled the boy from Granollers.

Pol Espargaro, Repsol Honda Team