Aleix Espargaro admitted post race that Francesco Bagnaia’s violent opening lap crash – which left him covered in oil – left him feeling “nervous” ahead of the restarted Catalan Grand Prix.
The factory Aprilia rider ultimately defeated team-mate Maverick Vinales to secure his second win of the season in the slightly-shortened 23-lap encounter, though he was lucky to miss both the Turn 1 incident instigated by Enea Bastianini involving five riders, as well as the aftermath of Bagnaia’s monstrous high-side on the exit of Turn 2 on the opening lap of the original start.
Bagnaia’s Ducati was collected by an unsighted Brad Binder, which ruptured the engine and caused oil to spill all over the circuit – covering several riders including Espargaro as a result, though luckily nobody went down as a direct result of this.
Espargaro admitted that he felt the restart – which got underway just over 20 minutes after the red flags were shown – came “too soon” following the wreck, admitting he still felt nervous having been coated in oil just moments before having to re-navigate Turn 1 at racing speed.
“On the first start I got away really bad and on my right side saw a bike coming really fast, so decided to accelerate and went on the green to avoid the crash, and I was very lucky,” explained Espargaro.
“Afterwards I saw Pecco (Bagnaia) high-side and the bike of Brad (Binder) hit his bike and brake the engine, so I was covered in oil and this left me a bit nervous in the garage (before restart).
“For me the restart was too close (soon), but this is racing and I tried to be calm, so I’m glad everyone is OK after that.”
Espargaro added that securing victory in the Catalan GP – his first at his ‘proper’ home track – was “tricky” compared to his sprint success on Saturday as a result of Vinales being much closer than he had been a day prior.
The Spaniard conceded that Vinales “pushed me to my limit”, and that if it had been any other race than his home one “he would have finished second” as he accepted he was in “crash or win” mode.
“It was a tricky race because Maverick (Vinales) pushed me all the way to the win, so I couldn’t use my riding style like I did yesterday and I had to risk a lot,” continued the now three-time premier class race winner.
“Maverick pushed me to my limit and I have to say yesterday I was quite smooth and it was easy, I felt good and could play and have fun but today was opposite.
“I felt really bad and couldn’t hit apexes because the wind was blowing me around the track, and Maverick’s strong point is on the brakes as he’s always better than me so he could stop the bike and accelerate much better.
“When I dropped back I pushed like I was in time attack mode, and if it was another track I’d have finished second but I said it’s either crash or win and I wanted to make him sweat.
“I tried everything and the overtake was on the limit, the wind was blowing a lot so it was tough to stop the bike at Turn 1.”
