Overview

• Franco Morbidelli and Fermin Aldeguer were penalised for separate incidents that took Aprilia’s Jorge Martin and Marco Bezzecchi out of the Catalan Grand Prix sprint.
• Morbidelli fell while attempting to pass Martin at Turn 10 and Aldeguer tucked the front into Bezzecchi at Turn 5, with Bezzecchi later reported to have only bruising.
• Both riders must serve a single long-lap penalty in Sunday’s Barcelona grand prix as second offences under current regulations.
• Stewarding guidance says the penalty carries to the next event if a rider cannot start due to the sprint incident, is deemed served if a non-related issue prevents a start, and also counts as served if a crash before the long lap stops a restart.
• The Race criticised the leniency and called for a penalty-system revamp, while Morbidelli accepted blame saying he “should have been more clever” and Martin downplayed the crash as he focused on qualifying struggles.