Bagnaia v Vinales collision - “a racing incident, but if you apportion blame…”

• French MotoGP, Le Mans - Race Results

Bagnaia and Viñales have crashed out!

It's getting a bit messy between them on the gravel

And now Espargaro and Marini have gone down, too.#FrenchGP pic.twitter.com/Vd87sBXSfO

— MotoGP on BT Sport (@btsportmotogp) May 14, 2023

Factory Ducati rider Bagnaia and Aprilia’s Vinales made contact as they scrapped for P3 then both crashed out at Le Mans - they even physically scuffled in the gravel before later making up.

Michael Laverty assessed it via BT Sport: “A complete racing incident, really.

“If you are going to apportion blame, it goes slightly on Pecco because he was behind. He had the choice not to lean in on top of Vinales.

“Vinales made the move. He had a little bit of room to control the corner.

“Pecco squared it up the inside, trying to lean in. We saw Marc Marquez execute it - he squared it enough to let the other rider know.

“So Pecco stays on the line, you’ve got to know that Vinales is going to drift back.”

Sylvain Guintoli added: “I agree. It was Pecco’s fault. A race incident, just two guys going for the same line.

“But Maverick was on the line, on the inside. Pecco should have left more room.

"We saw a similar situation with Marc and Jorge Martin. They left room for each other.

“This was important for Pecco, another blow in the championship race.”

Marco Bezzecchi, the Mooney VR46 rider, won his second grand prix of 2023.