Ducati boss angered by Bagnaia MotoGP penalty

An angry Davide Tardozzi called on MotoGP Stewards to revise their decisions after Francesco Bagnaia had to overcome a one-place penalty as he won the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez to take the lead of the World Championship.

The Ducati team manager was irked after Bagnaia was penalised when he made contact with Red Bull KTM’s Jack Miller, with the move deemed excessively aggressive.

Bagnaia had to concede second place to the Australian, but the reigning champion was able to fight his way through again to win the race from Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM).

Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli were also hit with penalties at Jerez.

Tardozzi referred to an incident between Miller and Jorge Martin in race, when the KTM rider made a robust overtake on Martin at the final corner, which was not deemed to be deserving of a penalty by the Stewards.

“My comments on the Stewards this weekend are not very good,” said Tardozzi.

“I think the penalties to Quartararo and Morbidelli were unfair – they were race accidents.

“Also, Pecco found space, he went in and Jack closed the line. What if Martin closed the line when Miller was in the last corner inside of him?

Why didn’t they give a penalty to Jack too?” he asked.

“I think the Stewards have to revise their decisions. This is a man’s sport, a hard sport – it can happen.”

Pressed on whether the decisions should be revised, or if the Stewards panel itself needed to be reconsidered in the wake of Sunday’s controversial calls, Tardozzi said it was a ‘problem for Dorna’.

“Maybe, I don’t know,” he said.

“Already it’s too many races and years that all of the riders have complained about this. I don’t know why nobody takes a decision.

“But, anyway, it is not my problem – it is Dorna’s problem. They have to decide if they want PlayStation races, or a man’s races.”