MotoGP: Marc Marquez Given Two Penalty Points for Crash

Marc Marquez has been sanctioned with two penalty points for ignoring a yellow flag in the morning warm up. The Repsol Honda rider was penalized after crashing at Vale, just moments after Cal Crutchlow had gone down at the same spot. Marquez was penalized as the marshalls at the spot were waving yellow flags, along with the oil flags.

Speaking after the race, Marquez said he had not seen any yellow flags at the corner. “I didn’t speak with [Race Direction] but they said there was the yellow flag and the oil flag, and I know that with the yellow flag you need to slow down, especially when you see the oil flag, you slow down a lot, but I didn’t see them. I cannot say many things [about this]. The rules are there, and so if they gave me points, it’s because the flags were there, but I didn’t see them.”

Marc Marquez dislocated his left shoulder in the morning warm-up crash at Silverstone. The championship leader crashed over the bumps going into Vale, falling heavily on his shoulder. He was then taken to the medical center, where he was diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder. The team at the medical center put his shoulder back in place, and passed Marquez fit to race.

Marquez’s crash was one of a series that happened in the cold conditions of warm up. Though it was bright and sunny, a cold wind meant temperatures were very low. Cal Crutchlow had crashed a few moments earlier in exactly the same spot, and the marshalls were just trying to clear his bike out of the way when Marquez went down. The Spaniard’s bike ran straight at Crutchlow’s stricken Tech 3 Yamaha, causing the marshalls to scatter out of the way.

Marquez and Crutchlow were not the only riders to go down at Vale, as Michele Pirro had already fallen at the same spot earlier on the day. Yonny Hernandez had also crashed earlier, but this time at Chapel, the last of the three corners at Maggotts and Becketts.

Though the bumps at Vale are partly to blame for the crashes there, not having an extra soft tire makes it harder to warm the tire in the cool conditions of the morning warm up, which takes place half an hour earlier than FP1.

The consequence of the single tire rule means that tire choice is limited, and focused on providing rubber the riders can race on in the afternoon, rather than use in the morning warm up.