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Jack Miller says Pol Espargaro acted “like an idiot” on the first lap of MotoGP’s German Grand Prix, while Suzuki believes the unpunished offence could cause “chaos” in future races.
Espargaro clipped the back of Andrea Iannone’s Suzuki while running on the inside line of Turn 3 on lap one, which led to the KTM rider crashing and collecting Alex Rins in the process.
Iannone was forced wide and fell to 18th after starting eighth on the grid, ruining Suzuki’s race.
Espargaro was investigated for the incident but no penalty was awarded, and Iannone went on to finish 12th.
“I already talked with Davide [Brivio], the boss of the team, and he has been on the race direction and they said no penalty, nothing,” said Rins, who revealed that Espargaro apologised after the race.
When asked if he agreed with the decision, he said: “No. Sincerely, no.
“If we are going like this and the big boys on race direction don’t stop this, finally it will be chaos.
“In the end what happened on first lap, on the third corner, was strange. On the second corner, I was on the inside and I saw Pol on the outside, a little bit on the limit.
“When we changed direction he was on the kerb on the inside on maximum angle and he touched with Andrea and then he crashed.”
Iannone added that Suzuki “completely” lost out due to Espargaro’s riding.
“We lost the race because I think Pol Espargaro doesn’t think a lot in the first three corners,” said Iannone.
“[He] maybe started strong and it’s OK when the rider tries to recover the position, but with intelligence and [using] his head.
“On Turn 3, we don’t have space. He arrived and when he changed directions, staying completely on the kerb, without the line, it’s unbelievable.
“I’ve heard the sound of the bike, and I start to pick up the bike a little bit because I expected contact. For this I saved a crash, but I lost more than 10 positions. On this track, it’s really difficult to recover.”
Pramac Ducati’s Jack Miller was another victim of the incident, running through the gravel and losing several positions.
“[Espargaro] came in on the outside like an idiot already at Turn 1 trying to pass me, he ran into me and then tried to pass the three of us round the outside into Turn 2,” said Miller.
“The crash was coming from a long way away.
“I was lucky enough to avoid it, but running into the gravel, touching the wall and then having to come back through the gravel at the start of the race, a 30-lap race, already 15 seconds behind, it’s not the nicest.”
“He [Espargaro] had nowhere to go, and tried to force his way in to the back of Rins, basically.”