Jack Miller shares his perspective on the incident involving Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia at the Portuguese MotoGP.
Following an initial encounter on the first lap exiting turn five, Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia found themselves in another duel during the final stages of the grand prix.
Bagnaia, who had lost position to Pedro Acosta earlier due to challenges as the race progressed, faced another assault from Marquez entering turn five with a couple of laps left.
Refusing to relinquish the position, Bagnaia immediately countered by diving back on the inside of the eight-time world champion. The issue arose as Marquez had barely strayed off his line, resulting in contact as both riders went down.
Reflecting on the incident, Miller expressed his early race concerns, stating, “I kind of could because early on in the race when we exited Turn 5, those two were absolutely banging each other.
“Exiting Turn 5, they collided, and every time they probably made contact three or four times through the acceleration into six.
“Each time they made contact, the rider on the outside was losing the front, and the one on the inside was almost highsiding. I was behind them trying to keep up with the group, but I was just waiting for a potential collision right in front of me.
“There was a lot of aggression there, as they were all pushing hard at the start, as we all were, but it all boiled over towards the end.
“It’s a challenging track to make clean passes on, and it’s unfortunate what happened, but that’s racing. I’m certain those guys will be back battling it out in Texas.”
Miller was not the sole rider to offer his perspective on the dramatic crash, as Aleix Espargaro labeled it a racing incident, while suggesting that Bagnaia could have taken more action to avoid it.
Espargaro remarked, “I watched it in a replay. In my view, it’s a racing incident. That corner is always tricky to navigate.
“However, I believe Pecco could have given Marquez a bit more room to prevent the contact.”
Enea Bastianini, who had outperformed Bagnaia throughout the entire grand prix, expressed surprise upon witnessing the clash in the cooldown room after the race.
Regarding the crash involving his fellow Ducati riders, Bastianini was cautious not to assign blame to either side.
“I’m not entirely sure what happened,” Bastianini stated. “But in the heat of battle, overtaking is always challenging, and these kinds of contacts can occur.”
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