Marquez’s MotoGP tyre pressure penalty at Assen highlights unfair rule flaw

Marc Marquez rode just 0.01 bar below the minimum tyre pressure allowed by MotoGP regulations for a lap of the Dutch Grand Prix and believes contact with Enea Bastianini was the cause.

The Gresini Ducati rider finished fourth in Sunday’s 26-lap Grand Prix at Assen, but was then demoted to 10th after being handed a 16-second post-race penalty for breaking the minimum pressure rule MotoGP front tires.

Marquez revealed that he had felt from the first lap that his tyre temperature was strangely low, and tried to control this by allowing VR46 rider Fabio Di Giannantonio to pass him on lap eight in a bid to use his dirty air to build up pressure.

While that helped, the rule infraction occurred on lap 21 when Ducati’s Enea Bastianini passed Marquez at Turn 1 and sent him off the track due to contact.

Having to run within the minimum limit of 1.8 bar for 15 laps (60% of the total race distance), Marquez missed it by a lap, his pressure falling 0.01 bar outside the legal tolerance as he recovered from a track excursion.

“0.01 for one lap,” Marquez replied when asked how far under the limit he was. “It’s a shame, but the rules are the rules.

“The only thing we were discussing with the stewards is why the penalty was delayed, because as you saw in the race I started well but suddenly I saw there was something strange at the front and the tyre pressure was very low.

Fabio Di Giannantonio, VR46 Racing team

Photo: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“Then I let DiGia pass just to control the pressure at the front, and I was there behind him the whole race.

“I was controlling in the right way, I was inside. But what I didn’t expect was the contact with Enea, where he threw me out.

“And when I finished that lap, I was a second slower and I didn’t push well in turns 3 and 5, because I didn’t know how the tires would be after coming out of the runoff zone .

“It went down again, it took two laps to come back and those two laps took me out of that minimum, which is 15 laps today.”

This situation highlighted a loophole in the regulations. Marquez reported this situation to the FIM stewards, who appear to agree with the eight-time world champion.

Although he accepts his sanction as it falls within the current regulatory framework, Marquez believes that it should be amended for the future so that incidents that cause a driver to unintentionally break tire pressure rules can be considered as extenuating circumstances.

“It’s possible, and that’s what they’re telling me, is that it can be a consideration for the future,” he replied when asked if pressure rules tires should be modified to take into account the situation he found himself in at Assen.

“But for now, the rules are the rules. And maybe that can change in the future.

Marc Marquez, Gresini Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

“I think so, especially if someone hits you and you’re off the track. Because at the end of the day, now the rules say if you don’t lose 16 seconds in a round, we can’t change the rules.

“With these bikes, if you are a second or 1.5 seconds slower in a lap, the pressure already drops by 0.05. This should be the rule, but at the moment this is what I’m telling them, I needed to ask (if this could be a defense) because I had gone (off track) due to a collision with another pilot.

“I had to ask, and they said ‘no, those are the rules.’ And I said, “I agree with you.” The current rules are like this and we have to wait. »

Marquez added that he believed Bastianini would have been ordered to lose a position after their collision. Bastianini thinks Marquez took more risks trying to hang on the outside of him.

The Gresini driver was the only one to be penalized for breaking tire pressure rules at Assen. He is the sixth driver to be sanctioned this season, after five penalties imposed during the Jerez sprint.

Since its introduction last year, this regulation has become a headache for teams who must adapt the pressure to the racing conditions their drivers face. This process involves the whole team and is not defined by Michelin, whose tire technicians can only provide advice.

Marquez’s team had planned for him to ride in the pack, starting from sixth, and when he found himself third on the second lap, it put him in danger. That’s why he let Di Giannantonio pass on lap eight, although he noted that his front tire pressure had only increased by 0.1 bar behind the Ducati VR46, which was much less than expected.

He also pointed out that the weather conditions in Assen played a role in his difficulties in coping with the pressure.