The musing of most of the grid with Race Direction comes from years; practically since Freddie Spencer was incorporated into the panel of referees of the championship, as its director, with a view to the 2019 season.
Since then, the controversies generated by the decisions led by Fast Freddie have accumulated. The last one, around the spectacular accident of Takaaki Nakagami in the first braking of the Catalan Grand Prix , has been the straw that broke the camel’s back for the patience of most of the grid in the heavy bike category.
In the eyes of almost the entire paddock installed at the Montmeló circuit, and surely also of the majority of the viewers who watched the test on television, Nakagami deserved a sanction for having mistimed when arriving at the first turn, where he was led by ahead of Pecco Bagnaia and Alex Rins.
However, Race Direction only took a few laps to communicate that the action would not entail any penalty for the Japanese Honda rider, which is not the first time he has been involved in an incident of this type.
Suzuki, through Livio Suppo , his team manager, tried to claim the decision, but Race Direction did not even allow it, arguing that the protest had no basis. That, even more infuriated those who took the worst part.
“In a World Cup, referees are expected to have a little more level. You don’t even need to look at the crash data to realize that Nakagami made a mistake when braking. He has been in MotoGP for a long time, and looking at his history, if when he has ridden in front he has never finished a race, it may be time to make him understand that it is not going well there”, explained Bagnaia, who lost a great opportunity with this crash to get into the fight for the title. “When I read that they were not going to sanction him, I was amazed. Above all, because the decision comes from an ex-pilot”, added the Turinese. “Even Lucio Cecchinello [director of the LCR team, in which Nakagami competes] does not understand that there has been no sanction”, clinched the Ducati boy.
“ With the arrival of Spencer I thought that it was easier to have a more professional panel of referees, and instead of that we see that no, that in many cases there are different yardsticks. If Taka had been sanctioned, we would have accepted it,” Cecchinello said.
“If someone throws two riders in Moto3, it is clear that they receive a sanction. In theory, in MotoGP we have to set an example for young people, but the sanctions are much less severe in our category”, Maverick Viñales said.
When Bagnaia was asked what he thinks could be the solution to the obvious problem with those who must legislate the championship at a sporting level, the pilot referred to the episode that ended with Michael Masi relieved of his position as World Race Director of Formula 1, after his controversial decisions in the last race of the course, which decided the championship in favor of Max Verstappen .
“ We have an example in Formula 1. Michael Masi, last year, made certain decisions that not everyone considered fair. And then he was removed from his post. Surely, the pilots should have a little more weight, because we have been talking about this for a long time”, concluded the Italian.
“In Race Direction they have to be more objective”, admitted Jorge Martín, after adding his second podium of the year. “Not only apply it [the punishment or penalty] to some drivers, and not to others. I was penalized for an absurd thing in Mugello . Today they have not wanted to take action on the matter about a fall that could have ended very badly”, settled the Pramac man from Madrid.
