The Repsol Honda rider had a scare when leaving the Camino de los Bueyes chicane on the first lap of the race at Le Mans which forced Morbidelli to take the inside of the next corner.
Espargaró braked hard at that corner trying to overtake Valentino Rossi, and Morbidelli was forced to go wide into the gravel after a touch and crashed.
The Spaniard believes that Morbidelli is solely responsible for the action, although he described it as a “career set”.
“Well, the problem was that Morbidelli arrived too hot, he made a mistake under braking and he touched me,” said Espargaro. “I had Valentino on the outside, I touched Valentino. I ran into him in the paddock, we talked a little and he agreed with me. It is clear that Franco braked too late and had a contact with me, and I had contact with Valentino”.
“It’s something that can happen in racing. It’s a racing incident, but we can’t ignore who started it all and who touched another driver, which in this case was Morbidelli braking too late.”
When Motorsport.com relayed Espargaro’s words to Morbidelli, the Petronas driver replied: “I think the blame has to be shared because when I saw Pol had the scare I thought he was out.”
“So I tried to overtake him because he was going much faster, I went on the inside and I thought after the scare he would take the next corner a little more carefully.”
“Instead, after that scare he was really aggressive to immediately try to attack Vale and I didn’t expect that.”
“I touched him in the rear, I ended up off the track and I couldn’t control the bike. That was the incident, in my opinion,” he concluded.
The best photos of the chaotic MotoGP 2021 French GP
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Foto de: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
