Bezzecchi critical of Vinales response to Phillip Island sprint crash

VR46 Ducati rider blames Aprilia man for braking early and “didn’t like” angry hand gesture

Marco Bezzecchi says he was unimpressed by Maverick Vinales showing him the middle finger as he lay motionless on the ground after the pair collided at high speed in Saturday’s sprint race at the Australian Grand Prix.

After being taken for additional medical checks in Melbourne on Saturday evening, during which time Vinales made his frustration towards the VR46 Ducati rider clear in the media, Bezzecchi only made his first comments following Sunday’s grand prix.

“I didn’t like his behaviour immediately after the crash,” said the three-time grand prix winner.

“If it was the other way around, I would go to check how the other rider is instead of showing the middle finger and saying f*** to me many times after we crash at 300km/h.”

The stewards took Vinales’s side regarding the incident itself, issuing Bezzecchi a long lap penalty for the grand prix on Sunday.

Subsequent to taking the punishment, Bezzecchi fell off and dropped out of contention, reporting that he was riding in pain following the crash.

Bezzecchi disagreed with Vinales’s version of the collision on the high-speed entry to the Doohan corner.

“Yesterday was a strange situation. Maverick passed me on the straight with the slipstream….then my bike was moving to the left so to get back I had to lean the bike whilst still on the straight. The wind was pushing me to the outside kerb.

“The problem was that as I did this Maverick put himself exactly in front of me under braking.

Marco Bezzecchi, VR46 Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“He braked early. You can see from the video that he braked, then released, then braked again. When you brake at the right point, you don’t release the brake.

“I was already moving to the right to avoid going on the outside kerb. When I saw him I tried to continue to go to the right but I got sucked by the slipstream. I couldn’t do anything to avoid the contact.

“I understand that it was a difficult decision. Normally the guy behind is the one who [gets the blame]. But for example last year in Qatar with Pecco [Bagnaia] and Fabio di Giannantonio and in Valencia with [Jorge] Martin and Pecco it was completely the same.

“[Those situations were] just another type of corner, a little bit slower, a little bit less windy, a little bit less Phillip Island style.

“It’s a situation that could have happened often, but fortunately for the others, they were able to avoid disaster.

“Anyway, what I didn’t really like was Maverick’s behaviour but as far as the penalty is concerned, I don’t care. I don’t complain. I did my long lap.”

Aprilia rider Vinales did not want to comment further on the issue on Sunday, but was satisfied with the penalty given to Bezzecchi.

“The stewards needed to set down a mark. They set down a mark so that’s fine.”

Vinales finished the grand prix in eighth place after once again dropping back from the front row of the grid.