One of the controversial moments of the Sprint race at the MotoGP Spanish GP was a touch between Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati) and Joan Mir (Repsol Honda). The former teammates were battling for positions at the end of the top ten when they made contact in an aggressive overtaking attempt by Márquez that cost Mir several positions. The eight-time world champion was penalized and had to give back a place, something incomprehensible to his rival.
#36 stated: ‘Marc simply came in the last corner, touched me, pushed me off the track, I lost four places. And then when he overtook Miguel [Oliveira] in exactly the same way, he had to give back a position.’
Referring to his last penalty, Mir contested the decision of the stewards regarding Márquez: ‘The last time I received a penalty was in Portimão in the Sprint race [in 2023], something similar. I braked, Fabio [Quartararo] was there, I overtook Fabio, I lost the front, I pushed Fabio off and then he lost some positions, but I crashed. And for the Sunday race they gave me a double Long Lap. That was the last penalty I had. I want to understand.’
Incredulous, the rider from Palma de Mallorca described his thoughts on the situation: ‘This is something that when I went to the garage I was with an incredulous face because you can’t believe it. Because I say: “How is it possible that for one rider you say one thing and for the same maneuver or even worse he loses a position? What do they base themselves on?’
Despite not understanding Márquez’s maneuver, Mir is not angry with the rival, essentially pointing out the inconsistency of the penalties: ‘I’m not angry with Marc’s maneuver, because if he had waited three more seconds we would have passed the corner and on the straight he would have overtaken me. This is something I don’t understand even being in that position – if we were fighting for a podium I would understand. But it’s unbelievable how the stewards evaluate this kind of things, and they are simply so inconsistent with the penalties. It’s unbelievable‘.
The 2020 champion argues that there has to be a certain margin, but considers that it was exceeded by Márquez: ‘In the end, I like to overtake with contact, it’s something I do because nowadays with aerodynamics it’s very difficult to overtake, so a bit of contact. We have to have this margin in overtaking, but one thing is the margin to touch and open your trajectory, and another thing is to throw the rider off the track, what you have in front. This is a completely different story. They have to evaluate as they did in the past. I don’t understand‘.
Finally, Mir stated: ‘He [Márquez] came into my trajectory, threw me off track to get the position. This is something you can’t do, or if you do, you have to be penalized‘.
