Francesco Bagnaia has been given a grid penalty for obstructing Alex Marquez during Friday’s practice session for the Italian MotoGP.
Marquez, frustrated with the reigning double world champion for holding him up in the final stages, gestured angrily, leading to an immediate investigation by the FIM Stewards.
Despite the incident, Bagnaia comfortably led the session, with Marquez finishing in eighth, allowing both to advance directly to Saturday’s Qualifying 2.
However, on Friday evening, the MotoGP Stewards announced that Bagnaia would receive a 3-place grid penalty for Sunday’s grand prix for ‘riding slow online [and] disturbing another rider #73 at Turn 12’.
According to the ‘penalty protocol’ issued to teams, the 3-place penalty reflects that the incident occurred during the critical last 20 minutes of practice, but also acknowledges that it was Bagnaia’s first offence.
An appeal against the penalty was rejected by the FIM Appeal Stewards, who confirmed the decision of the MotoGP Stewards panel. Before the decision, Alex Marquez commented, “He was slow in the middle of the line and I was improving my lap time. So for me, it’s really clear. He didn’t turn [to look] at any time to see who was coming. I was on a hot lap, and he was completely in the middle [of the track]. Penalty or not, we will see.”
“But after that incident, he went into the box. And when you are going into the box, you need to take care about the riders coming fast behind you.”
Bagnaia: Penalty would be ‘ridiculous’
Immediately after the session Bagnaia, seeking his third Mugello victory in a row, brushed off the incident and labelled the #73 “a great showman” for his on-track reaction.
“[It was] Nothing… I was braking out of the [racing] line,” said Bagnaia. “He’s a great showman, for sure. It’s useless to do some [gestures] like this. But it makes a good show.
“In case, I receive a penalty for that… [it would] be ridiculous. I’m waiting but I don’t think I will receive a penalty.”
Alex’s older brother and Gresini Ducati team-mate Marc is currently in contention to join Bagnaia at the factory Ducati team in 2025, although title leader Jorge Martin is increasingly tipped to get the ride.
Bagnaia is currently 39 points behind Martin, who was seventh fastest on Friday.
