Fabio Quartararo says his actions which led to a penalty for disobeying marshals at the French Grand Prix were “not stupid” and says race direction needed to “understand what the marshals are doing".
The factory Yamaha rider was fined and ordered to sit out the start of MotoGP practice at Silverstone as a punishment for "irresponsible" behaviour after his French Grand Prix crash.
Having started from pole in front of his home crowd, Quartararo was fighting for the lead with Marc Marquez during the early stages of the wet/dry race when he crashed at the final corner on lap four.
He was attempting to remount and rejoin the race while marshals urged him to abandon his Yamaha and head to the service road. Quartararo eventually gave up and did so.
But he still incurred a €2000 fine and suspension from the first 10 minutes of practice at this weekend’s British GP after stewards said he had "behaved in an irresponsible manner, disobeying direct instructions from marshals, causing potential danger to yourself and others".
Speaking on Thursday, Quartararo conceded that it was “my fault to get angry” and that he understood the penalty but added “the marshals have some responsibility also to push me strong - not one holding and one pushing.”
“For me, it’s not stupid what I did, because everyone did it in the past and no-one was penalised,” the Frenchman said. “They call you as a warning, but I was the first one to be ‘okay, everyone is doing it, so you will be the first one to be penalised’.
“I can understand, but the coincidence is I am the first one always to be penalised. But I can understand the reaction of the marshals.”
Quartararo continued: “My bike was in good condition. They called me into race direction because I insist a lot.
“But I said if the marshal pushed me well, I would have restarted the bike, it would have been no discussion. But the marshals didn’t push me - one was pushing, one was holding, one was pushing, one was holding. Then you cannot restart a MotoGP bike if you are not pushing strongly.
“That’s what I say, if you want to penalise me, it’s okay, I can understand. But you need to also understand what the marshals are doing.
“It was my fault to get angry and didn’t want to put the bike on the side, but understand that the marshals have some responsibility also to push me strong - not one holding and one pushing.
“That’s what they have also to understand and see on the screen, that we clearly see they were not pushing. So, consistency I can understand, but we also have to understand what the marshals are doing.
“They were not really together, you know. I can understand that it can be difficult when you are in this situation, because also the bike was not in the safe safe things, but don’t try to push me if you don’t want.
“You go full or you don’t go, and this is what really happened. But if they are doing the same for everybody, I understand.”
