Mandalika Crash Involving Bezzecchi and Fernandez: Sanchini Says Marquez Is Also to Blame: “He went in at all costs…”
The crash at the first turn of the Mandalika circuit proved to be very significant—and perhaps decisive—for the outcome of the Indonesian Grand Prix Sprint race, which was ultimately won by Marc Marquez, who became the new World Championship leader on Saturday morning: Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez crashed, ending their races after just a few seconds.
The contact between the rider from Romagna and the Spaniard sparked debate and controversy both during and after the race. “Marquez comes in pushing hard to get inside at all costs alongside Di Giannantonio, and the two have to widen their line because they can’t take the corner like that,” said Mauro Sanchini, Guido Meda’s co-commentator on Sky, during the live broadcast.
The harshest accusations came directly from Raul Fernandez, who didn’t mince words in describing Bezzecchi’s behavior: “In this case, Marco made a really, really bad move. I just can’t understand it. If it happens by mistake, that’s fine. The problem is when you do it on purpose. I had positioned myself in the middle of the track to defend my position, and Marco had gotten off to a good start. But every time he got close to me, he pushed me out, until I had to brake on the white line.” The Spanish Trackhouse rider, who started from pole position, then added a detail that makes his day even more bitter: “I have a broken finger, and I might not be able to race tomorrow despite starting from pole.”
Trackhouse team principal Davide Brivio came to Fernandez’s defense, extending his criticism to World Championship leader Jorge Martin as well: “It seems that Martin and Marquez were extremely aggressive at the first corner. They wanted to gain as many positions as possible. For the first corner, it was too aggressive a move, but I’m not surprised,” he told the official MotoGP channel. This stance contrasts sharply with that of Aprilia’s technical director, Fabiano Sterlacchini, who preferred not to point fingers: “What happened was simply a racing incident resulting from unfortunate circumstances. Let’s focus on making up for it tomorrow—there are even more points up for grabs.”
Marc Marquez himself tried to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the incident: “It was a very critical moment; I hadn’t imagined it would go that way. Four of us were side-by-side. Bezzecchi was watching where Raul was braking, I was watching Bezzecchi, and Di Giannantonio was watching me—and so the four of us went wide, and Martin moved from fifth to first.” A reconstruction that, in effect, shifts the blame to the chain reaction triggered in that first, fateful turn.
The victory in the Sprint race is worth double for Marquez, who has thus broken the Mandalika curse: the rider from Cervera had never achieved positive results on this circuit in his four previous appearances, due to crashes, mechanical issues, and injuries. With today’s win, the nine-time world champion returns to the top of the riders’ standings, ahead of Martin and Bezzecchi, in a world championship battle that is becoming increasingly tight with just a few races left in the season.
