Is Martin's penalty too small? His boss hints it might be

Aprilia racing boss Massimo Rivola said he would've readily accepted a harsher penalty to his rider Jorge Martin for the crash that removed Martin and four rivals, including team-mate Marco Bezzecchi, from contention in the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Martin lost control of his Aprilia entering Turn 1 after the start and clattered into a group of riders. All five avoided serious injury but Martin, Bezzecchi, Fermin Aldeguer and satellite Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez were out on the spot - while Fabio Di Giannantonio remounted and finished 12th.

The stewards awarded Martin a double long lap penalty for the crash. As he retired on the spot at Balaton, he must take it in the next grand prix he contests - which should be at Brno in a fortnight.

The incident has allowed reigning champion Marc Marquez to take a significant chunk out of Bezzecchi's points lead. He is now 72 points back from Bezzecchi and 52 points back from Martin.

Aprilia elected not to send out either factory rider in front of the media, instead choosing to make its address via racing boss Rivola - who made the programme's position clear in his words and demeanour.

Rivola was not incandescent, but made it clear the responsibility laid with Martin.

He apologised to "all the riders involved" - but the implication was that the apology was being delivered on Martin's behalf, and he confirmed Martin himself had sought out Bezzecchi and various members of the crew to make amends.

But the apology, though acknowledged as a "good gesture", did little to soothe the blow. And after hearing out Martin's explanation, Rivola still described the incident as "difficult to digest" while speaking to MotoGP.com - and repeatedly referenced the error as being too severe for a rider of Martin's stature.

"A world champion, I think he cannot do a mistake like that," Rivola said.

"I don't see anything wrong [in terms of intention] between our riders, in the behaviour of Jorge - I see just a mistake that someone like Jorge cannot do, and that's it," he added later.

He also made the remarkable hint, very rare when it comes to team bosses in MotoGP or other motorsports, that his rider may have warranted a firmer sanction than the double long-lap penalty Martin will serve at Brno.

"You spoke about the penalty - maybe, sincerely, we are speaking so much about the safety, I would not have disagreed if the penalty was even stronger and harsher than that. Because the first corner is dangerous and these guys are risking already everywhere, and if we put extra risk it's not necessary."

Rivola was slightly less harsh in his words during his talk with the written media shortly afterwards - but still did not shy away from placing the blame on Martin.

"The good aspect of today is that no one was badly injured. The risk was super high. What is frustrating to me is that it was one of our riders who made that kind of mistake at the first corner, that we must avoid," he acknowledged.

And he dismissed the idea that the first corner at Balaton Park is too dangerous.

"The point is that when you know that the conditions are bad, take it more easy."

But he also said that Martin's error was less severe than the one that had triggered the previous Martin-Bezzecchi collision, at Motegi last year.

"This time, it was… I don't want to say 'a small mistake' but he didn't behave with the front brake as he should have done in that part of the track. That is quite different from Japan. A smaller mistake but the same outcome. For us, even worse.”