The biggest point of discussion at the German Grand Prix this weekend was how race management dealt with Fabio Quartararo’s suit drama when the Yamaha rider’s leather cracked late in the Catalonia Grand Prix and ultimately received a three-second penalty after the race brought in.
Quartararo violated the rules, but the penalty for such violation was imprecise. For reasons of driver safety, many – including Quartararo – are of the opinion that he should have shown the black flag immediately and be disqualified. Others criticize the three-second penalty – because a penalty for something he was ultimately not responsible for did not seem appropriate, nor did it make sense to hit him with it hours after the checkered flag.
When asked by Motorsport.com on Thursday in Germany whether he thought Quartararo should have driven with a black flag – after he had already criticized in Barcelona for taking off his chest protector – world champion Joan Mir said he had a black flag wanted if he had been in the situation.
That discussion continued on Thursday at the pre-event press conference in Germany, where KTM’s Miguel Oliveira – who won in Barcelona – said the black flag decision wasn’t as straightforward as it was claimed.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing MotoGP
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“I mean, when things happen in the heat of the moment, I think it was a tough call even for Race Direction because you don’t really know what happened, if he opened the leathers or if the leathers came off even opens, “he said.
“So, at this moment, to warn a driver about the material [malfunctioning] and not from a mistake on his part, I think it’s a bit controversial.
“But it’s Race Direction, I won’t have an opinion on your decision. It is what it is.”
The incident in Barcelona was only scrutinized by the MotoGP race management after a flood of questionable decisions last year.
Riders have expressed their dismay at MotoGP’s 2020 yellow flag rule that anyone crossing a yellow flag zone will lose that lap time regardless of whether there is any danger. Lane boundaries have come under fire, even more recently after pressure sensors in the run-off zones were introduced into police lane boundaries, removing what Mir referred to as “human touch” from these decisions.
Maverick Vinales, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Yamaha MotoGP
Maverick Vinales broke this system twice in Portugal and lost qualifying laps for exceeding the track limits – only to later show that it was a tiny piece of rear tire that triggered the sensor, which was hard to guess what it would have won .
Yamaha teammate Quartararo believes the lane limitation rules are now over the top. The world championship title says the rigor makes the race “a little too serious”.
He cited the penalties given to Mir and Oliveira at Mugello for touching the green painted area next to the curbs on the final lap – a violation in all classes that forces a driver to give up a position. Since both drivers were doing it at the same time, they kept their original positions in second and third. Race Direction assumed that anyone who ran off the track at Mugello’s Turn 5, like both drivers, would win by 0.5 seconds.
Quartararo also had an issue with the three-second penalty awarded to him in Barcelona for running through the chicane on corners 1 and 2 when he made a mistake.
The race management stated that every driver who did this had to lose a second in the lap time or otherwise face a long lap penalty. Quartararo lost seven tenths that lap, which earned him the penalty – although he argued that it was impossible for him to really gauge how much time he could lose on the bike.
Jack Miller, Ducati Team, Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“Yeah, not only about what happened in Barcelona but also about what happened to Joan and Miguel in Mugello, that kind of punishment is strange for me,” Quartararo said when asked by Motorsport.com whether trust in the race management is lowest. “You go two or three centimeters out on the green and take a position – you don’t gain any time [doing that]. It’s a bit too much for me, including what happened in Barcelona when I was driving straight ahead [at Turn 1]. I was seven tenths slower and they say when you go [another] three tenths slower you have no penalty. I mean, how can you do the math? “
That reaction sparked tension between Quartararo and Jack Miller – who was behind Quartararo when he made that mistake and finished third – which flared up Thursday, with Miller finding that the lane delimitation rules are for safety and advocated in the safety commission ( something that oddly enough is not visited by all drivers, Quartararo apparently one of them).
“I write on it that nobody likes the referee in a football game, but the referee is necessary,” Miller said when asked about the direction of the race from Motorsport.com. “I think Race Direction is necessary. That rule, which you talk about for a second, has been in place for three years.”
Quartararo replied, “Yes, but the rule is stupid,” while Miller replied, “Yes, but what if it was grass or gravel in the middle of the chicane?”
“I’m going on the grass,” added Quartararo.
“That’s right, so you’re losing more than a second,” Miller continued. “Well, this green from the outside, if it was grass like before, you don’t go all the way to the curb. This brings the wall closer.
Jack Miller, Ducati team
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
“If you come to the Security Commission, you would understand what we are discussing, and that’s why we in the Security Commission are pushing for this rule, because at the end of the day, when you get faster and faster, wider and wider, the tracks will be at the end of the day Unsure of the day.
“The same thing with the chicane, before it was gravel, nobody gets through. When tarmac came, people drove through three or four times in a race, didn’t use that side of the tire six times per side over the tire and they win on An advantage at the end of the race.
“So the rules are the rules. Nobody likes the referee, they can do many things better than any of us, but someone has to be the bad guy. It’s that simple.”
Johann Zarco from Pramac provided a balanced argument on the subject of Race Direction and stated that the decision-making process for track limits is incredibly time-sensitive given the 45-minute racing time of the MotoGP. However, he agrees that the current system is fallible.
Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing, Johann Zarco, Pramac Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Miller’s point on safety also underscores the eternal struggle: MotoGP must establish rules that reflect advances in safety. In the past, route boundaries were not a big problem, as the curbs were lined with AstroTurf and the asphalt run-off areas were made of gravel.
But AstroTurf turned out to be too dangerous because of the way it absorbed water, as the material was removed from the racetracks after Aragon in 2014 when Valentino Rossi fell and got a brief concussion while driving the material. And the run-off zones had to grow to take account of the increase in speed.
All of this can easily be viewed as a normal process in which drivers and rule makers predictably disagree, but the concerns expressed are legitimate – not least when the categories below are considered.
During the Moto3 race in Barcelona, some riders in the large leading group deliberately backed away at critical points in order not to end up in the slipstream on the main straight. Behavior in Moto3 races has been a hot topic for a while, especially when it comes to qualifying tactics – although Race Direction has taken steps to stop this through tougher penalties.
But the question of how drivers do the final laps in large groups and safety concerns were brought into the spotlight by the tragic death of Jason Dupasquier at Mugello.
Jeremy Alcoba, Team Gresini Moto3
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Quartararo believes the antics have gotten “stupid” in Moto3 and targeted the fact that the race management seemingly overlooked this while at the same time going over the track to the extreme.
“Just to add one thing, we’re talking about MotoGP, but when I look at the final laps of Moto3 I think there are more things to talk about about Moto3 safety than MotoGP because it’s totally stupid is to see everyone cut everybody [the throttle] in the last two rounds with what happened last week, “said Quartararo.
“We’re talking about the details, OK, the one-second rule is the rule, but it’s fine with me to buy time or not. But we lost a man three weeks ago, so you have to focus a little more on that focus on smaller categories. “
Quartararo’s argument is correct, but not new either. Rossi has long felt that some of the aggression in MotoGP today stems from the fact that racing in Moto3 is wild and this sets the precedent for young riders to get through. He too had similar views as Quartararo about the events in Moto3 in Barcelona.
Much of the current disdain for race directors – and especially the stewards panel, which imposes penalties – stems from a knee-jerk reaction following the fall of Rossi / Marc Marquez in Sepang in 2015.
Valentino Rossi, Petronas Yamaha SRT
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Rossi was not penalized for an incident that resulted in Marquez being dropped from the Sepang race. The Yamaha rider finished third and kept his title hopes alive for the final lap. That decision was criticized at the time, and the backlash when Rossi was hit with a back-of-the-grid start for the Valencia Final was massive for the Italian’s fans – the paranoid talk of sabotage and conspiracies, first from Rossi only made it worse.
The Stewards Panel was set up in 2016 to separate the race control’s tasks of administering races from the need to assess fines.
One element that can’t help is the fact that the stewards panel is headed by two-time 500cc world champion Freddie Spencer. The American is an experienced racing driver but has no current MotoGP experience. It’s not unreasonable to think that someone who rode modern MotoGP machines would understand any incident much better.
Miller is right: Race Direction is necessary and someone has to be there to enforce the rules.
But it is clear that the system must be carefully analyzed and changes made to restore some of the trust in Race Direction that appears to have been lost on some of the grid.