MotoGP | Espargaro: “We don’t need commissioners who retired 25 years ago!”

The stewards in MotoGP are having a lot of work in this Italian Grand Prix and, once again, it seems that they are not satisfying the riders at all. The discontent already began on Friday with the three-place grid penalty imposed on Pecco Bagnaia for obstructing Alex Marquez in practice. The world champion will have to pay for it in Sunday’s race, but he considered it “ridiculous” after accusing the Spaniard of “putting on a show”.

But the problems continued this Saturday in the Sprint with two key actions: a contact between Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini inside Turn 1 sent the factory Ducati rider into the gravel. Then, Miguel Oliveira slipped while trying to overtake Fabio Quartararo, overwhelming him. The Frenchman could do nothing to avoid the fall and both ended the race early. Both actions were reviewed by the Stewards’ Panel during the race and both had the same outcome: race accident.

After going to the offices of the body led by Freddie Spencer to explain his point of view and not to ensure that Oliveira was sanctioned, Quartararo lashed out against the Race Direction, stating that it is “like talking to a wall” and that it seemed that “they had never raced a motorbike”, being ex-racers.

Another rider who offered his point of view on Saturday at Mugello despite not being involved in any controversy was Aleix Espargaro, who never hides when dealing with these topics, always offering interesting ideas. The Aprilia rider explained that in his opinion the commissioners “are not up to par” and criticized the inconsistency, an aspect that recurs when talking about this topic.

“I already said it yesterday to the Dorna Safety Commission, with all the respect and education I have. The commissioners are not up to par,” began Aleix. “They definitely look and will continue to do so. But I’m not up to par. Why wasn’t Miguel penalized this afternoon? Why was Pecco sanctioned? They called Jorge Martin when it came to the same accident with Pecco and Marc in Portugal and nothing happened there. You never know how they get out of it. My opinion is that they do what they know, but it’s not enough. They are very far from the level required in MotoGP.”

Thus, the driver from Granollers made an analogy between the work of the commissioners and his own as a driver, on what would happen if he did not reach the set objectives: “If I finished last in every race, despite trying my hardest, I definitely wouldn’t be here four years, because someone would replace me.”

For Espargaro, the commissioners must update themselves to the current era and he also proposed names to be nominated as the next top manager of the College: “I tried to give my opinion to Dorna. The stewards haven’t been racing for 20 or 25 years, we need someone who knows this sport more closely, who is newer. Who understands driving styles, types of tires. It could be Cal Crutchlow or Michele Pirro. Someone who has recently finished racing or who knows and understands these bikes. He doesn’t need to have won. We pilots go crazy because of this inconsistency,” he concluded.