{"id":569017,"date":"2019-04-02T09:29:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-02T08:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/articles\/opinion\/is-marquez-unstoppable"},"modified":"2019-12-05T02:16:16","modified_gmt":"2019-12-05T02:16:16","slug":"m-rquez-unstoppable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.motorsportmagazine.com\/articles\/motorcycles\/motogp\/m-rquez-unstoppable\/","title":{"rendered":"Is M\u00e1rquez unstoppable?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marc M\u00e1rquez scored his biggest dry MotoGP win at the Argentine Grand Prix while Valentino Rossi saved his tyres to take second, which is where Cal Crutchlow should\u2019ve finished…<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Marc<\/p>\n

Photo: MotoGP<\/em><\/p>\n

Another MotoGP race, another row about the rules.<\/p>\n

In Qatar the argument focused on the guidelines relating to aerodynamic fitments<\/a>. In Argentina the aggravation concerned Cal Crutchlow\u2019s jump-start, which resulted in a ride-through penalty that probably cost the Briton a second-place finish.<\/p>\n

During the race Crutchlow was the only rider to get within half a second a lap of runaway winner Marc M\u00e1rquez. At the end of the race he was 31.4 seconds behind the Spaniard, when the cost of a ride-through is usually reckoned to be around 30sec.<\/p>\n

MotoGP\u2019s new chief steward Freddie Spencer<\/a> \u2013 who rejected the aero protest in Qatar<\/a> \u2013 copped a lot of flack for this decision. But the verdict and punishment were out of his hands, because the rules don\u2019t give the stewards any possibility to use their judgement in such cases.<\/p>\n

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Any rider who anticipates the start will be required to carry out the ride through described under article 1.19.<\/p>\n

The motorcycle must be stationary at the time the red lights are turned off. Anticipation of the start is defined by the motorcycle moving forward at the time the red lights are turned off.<\/p>\n

In the case of a minor movement and subsequent stop whilst the red lights are on, the designated officials will be the sole judge of whether an advantage has been gained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If Crutchlow had jumped the start five years ago it could\u2019ve been a different story, because the 2014 MotoGP rules allowed race direction some leeway.<\/p>\n

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Any rider who anticipates the start will be required to carry out the ride through described under article 1.19.<\/p>\n

Anticipation of the start is defined by the motorcycle moving forward when the red lights are on. The Race Direction will decide if a penalty will be imposed and must arrange for everyone to be informed of such penalty<\/strong> before the end of the fourth lap.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

However, the rules were rewritten for 2015, following a number of incidents. Since then officials are only allowed to use their judgement if the rider makes a \u201csubsequent stop\u201d after a minor movement. Note the bold text.<\/p>\n

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Any rider who anticipates the start will be required to carry out the ride through described under article 1.19.<\/p>\n

The motorcycle must be stationary at the time the red lights are turned off<\/strong>. Anticipation of the start is defined by the motorcycle moving forward at the time<\/strong> the red lights are turned off<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the case of a minor movement and subsequent stop whilst the red lights are on, Race Direction will be the sole judge of whether <\/strong>an advantage has been gained.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Race Direction will decide if a penalty will be imposed for taking advantage by anticipating the start<\/strong> and must communicate the penalty to the rider<\/strong> before the end of the fourth lap.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

By way of contrast, here is the jump-start rule from the 1999 regulations, when the world was a simpler place. The entire 1999 rulebook numbered 48 pages compared to this year\u2019s 347-page tome.<\/p>\n

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Any rider who anticipates the start will be penalised by being required to stop in the penalty area approved by the FIM<\/strong> Safety Officer. He must bring his motorcycle to a complete stop and remain stationary for 5 seconds. He may then rejoin the race.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Crutchlow\u2019s movement at Termas de R\u00edo Hondo on Sunday was as minor as they get, but there was no subsequent stop. In this case the 2019 rules allow zero leeway on judgement or punishment, which requires a ride-through penalty and nothing less.<\/p>\n

Were Spencer and his fellow stewards wrong? No. Is the law an ass? Possibly.<\/p>\n

Crutchlow\u2019s punishment didn\u2019t fit the crime, at least when examined logically, rather than legally. However, the penalty is there in black and white, whether the jump-start was the result of a tiny throttle\/clutch error or of anticipating the lights.<\/p>\n

Years ago jumped starts weren\u2019t such a big deal, because most races were won by many seconds, not by just a few tenths. Now a metre or two gained by the slightest anticipation of the lights might gain the perpetrator a couple of positions at the first corner, which could affect the end result.<\/p>\n

Does the jump-start rule need to be rewritten once again? Perhaps there should be two different penalties: a long-lap penalty for minor movements and a ride-through for more blatant offences?<\/p>\n

This would seem to make sense. However, it wouldn\u2019t be that simple. All infringements would have to be exactly measured, with a minor movement quantified at, say, a maximum of five centimetres. Then, no doubt, there would be arguments if a rider jumped the start by 51 millimetres. How accurate is the grid camera? Can MotoGP prove it\u2019s accurate to one millimetre? These things are never easy and rules can always be unkind.<\/p>\n

British Superbike still leaves the decision to race direction, which is \u201cthe sole judge of whether an advantage has been gained and will decide if a penalty will be imposed\u201d. This seems a sensible way to go, but again, what happens if a jump-start decides which factory wins the MotoGP world title. What then? Should that kind of a decision be left to an individual?<\/p>\n

The whole idea of MotoGP\u2019s grid cameras and no-room-for-manoeuvre regulation is to remove the decision from the naked eye and individual opinion; just like a photo-finish at the end of a race. In theory this keeps the officials safe from criticism. But apparently not in reality.<\/p>\n

Crutchlow had good reason to be fuming, but he\u2019s got a proper racer\u2019s psyche, so he will already be focusing on the positives of the weekend.<\/p>\n

The positives are as obvious as the negative. There\u2019s now no doubt that the 33-year-old has the chance to record his best-ever season this year, never mind the 20 points he\u2019s just lost. Last year Ducati seemed to have the best bike, with only M\u00e1rquez able to regularly make the difference aboard an RC213V<\/a>, but this year HRC has taken another major step forward.<\/p>\n

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More<\/big><\/p>\n