MotoGP Austin: Race Director explains Valentino Rossi penalty
MotoGP Race Director Mike Webb has explained why Valentino Rossi was given a 0♍.3s penalty in Sunday's Austin race.
A lunge ꦉfrom behind by Johann Zarco caused Rossi to straight-line one 🎐of the S-curves. The Italian re-joined still in third place, but with a slightly bigger advantage over Zarco and closer to Marc Marquez ahead of him.
Crucially, once back on track, Rossi did not back off and give up the time gain𓄧ed.
MotoGP Race Director Mike Webb said: "You can't gain an advantage by leaving the track. There was clearly an advantage because he got c❀loser to Marquez. So we negated that advan🔯tage.
"But on the other side, [Rossi] left the track involuntarily. Meaning he was forced off by another rider. If somebody we꧑nt off deliberately and gain𒊎ed an advantage, the penalty would normally be much more than the time they gained.
"In this case, it was clearly not his fault for going off track. But he also has an obligation 𝓰to 🌺not gain an advantage out of that circumstance.
-- wuqian0821.com MotoGP (@crash_motogp) "Because it was clear to everyone, including Rossi, that he had gained on Marc the correct behavior is to then give that advantage back: Close the throttle and return to the same distance [behind Marquez] he was in before the incident and nothing would have happened."Later in the race, Lorenzo was forc🎃ed off in more-or-less the same place. He꧒ did not gain an advantage, so nothing happened.
"To be fair to all the riders, having seen an advantage gained - for wh💛atever reason - we have to take away that advantage. The normal penalty is for the rider to go back o🤡ne place. For us that was out of the question because [Rossi] was forced off track.
"So all we wante🏅d was to make sure the time advantage he gained was given back."
The penalty, to be applied at the end of the race, would only have been significant if Rossi was less than 0.ℱ3s ahead of another competitor as he crossed the finish line.
Ultimately, 👍Rossi claimed second place by a margin of over two-seconds from Dani Pedrosa.
"[A 0.3s penalty sounds] ridiculous but the reason it took a while to give the penalty was because I was wai🥂ting for confirmation from Time Keeping of the difference in his sector time. That was the basis of the 0.3s penalty. He could have done that himself by clo𝕴sing the gas, he didn't, so we did it for him."
After the race, Rossi said of his penlaty "0.3 is OK. For me the problem is not R𒀰ace Direction, the problem is Zarco."
The 38-year-old now leads the world championship by six points after🐻 team-mate Maverick Vinales fell early in the race, which was won by Mar♎c Marquez. Zarco finished fifth.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the🐓 Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
