Marquez “completely agrees” with penalty for Oliveira Portugal MotoGP crash

The Honda rider collided with RNF Aprilia’s Oliveira on the third lap of 25 in Sunday’s race after locking his front brake on the way into Turn 3.

The incident took both riders out on the spot and forced Pramac’s Jorge Martin to run off track and drop to 16th, while Marquez has been left with a suspected fracture in his right hand.

Marquez has been handed a double long lap penalty for next week’s Argentina GP and has accepted blame for the incident.

Explaining what happened, Marquez said: “Honestly speaking, I’m not very worried about Argentina. Today, the most important thing is Miguel is ok and for me that is the most important thing because I did a big mistake on that Turn 3 in the first part.

“And this created everything. The first part I braked, and I had a massive lock on the front tyre. That massive lock created [a situation where] I released the brakes.

“My intention was to go on the left side, but the bike stayed with that lean and I couldn’t avoid to go on the right side.

“I was able to avoid Martin but I was not able to avoid Miguel. I was very worried for him because the contact was a big one.

“But I want to say sorry to him, to his team, to the Portuguese fans. I have been penalised for that with a double long lap penalty in Argentina, and I completely agree.

“Apart from that, I had a few injuries on my hand and knee. We need to check, but now my situation is not the most important.”

Marquez added that he was “not attacking” at this point of the race as he’d elected to run the medium rear tyre in the hopes of being able to fight later in the race.

A number of riders feel Marquez’s penalty should have been harsher, with Aleix Espargaro claiming he deserved a race ban for the incident.

When asked to respond, Marquez simply stated that he has been given the penalty mandated in the rules but says he would also accept a harsher punishment if it was stipulated.

“I mean, on the [safety] briefing on Thursday on the rules, that was the penalty,” Marquez said of his double long lap.

“So, was like if you overtake and you create a dangerous situation and you create a crash of another rider, it’s a double long lap the first time.

“Then second time I think it’s a pitlane start, and third time is a ride-through.

“By the rules they explained in the briefing, it’s a double long lap. But if the rules said heavier, I will accept because it was my mistake.”