Marco Bezzecchi Slams Maverick Vinales For Showing The Middle Finger After Horrific Crash

Saajan Jogia | 19 Hours Ago

Apr 12, 2024; Austin, TX, USA; Marco Bezzecchi (72) of Italy and Pertamina Enduro VR46 during practice for the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas at Circuit of The Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Marco Bezzecchi has criticized Maverick Vinales for giving him the middle finger while he was still on the ground after their terrifying crash during the Australian MotoGP sprint race. Bezzecchi had rear-ended Vinales in the braking zone at the fast Turn 1, shortly after Vinales overtook him for fifth place on the penultimate lap.

The crash sent both riders tumbling into the gravel at high speed. Vinales appeared to be in a better condition than Bezzecchi and thus he went over to the VR46 rider following the crash, and hurled F-bombs at him, much to Bezzecchi's surprise and disappointment. Speaking after the session at the Phillip Island Circuit, he told the media:

"I didn't like his behaviour immediately after the crash.

"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."

This was a mega crash! Imagine Bez’s thoughts as he was sucked into Vinales’s bike at 300km/h.
pic.twitter.com/z5Dbtd5KJD

— Donovan Fourie (@Donovan_Fourie) October 19, 2024

The stewards noted the incident and charged Bezzecchi with a long-lap penalty for Sunday's Grand Prix. However, the Italian rider dropped out of the race after serving the penalty citing pain as the reason. He emphasized that he didn't care about the consequences, but was concerned about how Vinales handled the matter. He added:

"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.

"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."