'The f***ing consistency is not there' - MotoGP's new stewards get first flak
MotoGP

'The f***ing consistency is not there' - MotoGP's new stewards get first flak

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
4 min read

The final sprint of the MotoGP season produced the first sharp rebuke of stewarding under new-for-2025 chief steward Simon Crafar, with Joan Mir and particularly Jack Miller voicing dissent.

A race winner in the 500cc era, 56-year-old Crafar replaced the much-criticised three-time grand prix champion Freddie Spencer in the role at the turn of the year, and has predominantly endeared himself to the grid with his approach - widely seen as more transparent and clearer to riders.

However, Miller's collision with Fermin Aldeguer in the Valencia sprint - which saddled Miller with a 'drop three positions' order that he would choose to ignore - proved arguably the first major flashpoint under this regime.

Miller lunged eighth-placed Aldeguer at Turn 2 on the opening lap, sliding wide on corner entry - which resulted in hard contact between the front of Aldeguer's Ducati and the rear of Miller's Yamaha.

It did damage to Aldeguer's aero fairing but also took his left arm off the handlebar, but the Gresini rider was able to stay on - and the 'drop three positions' penalty was aimed to send Miller back behind him.

"At the end, I was lucky that I stayed on the bike. For sure I could've crashed and injured my arm," Aldeguer said.

Miller, however, was insistent that Aldeguer's approach to the corner had led to the crash - and he believed the sanction was not appropriate, given also that none other than Aldeguer had gone unpunished for two clashes with Miller at the start of the Portimao sprint last weekend and a barging overtake on Brad Binder in that same weekend's grand prix race.

"The penalty is not, in my opinion, valid," Miller vented. "It's impossible to pass somebody if they continue to release the brakes on top of you.

“I passed already once [earlier] at the last corner and he continued to ride over my front tyre. We exited onto the straight together on the first lap, of course, the bike [Aldeguer's Ducati] is a rocketship, so he goes away.

“I spend the next lap and a half deciding where I'm going to make my move. I got the best drive I could possibly get out of Turn 1 into Turn 2. I had everything under control. As soon as I got side by side with him, he started to release [the brakes]. I then have to go tighter - and tighter, and tighter. At one point, we're going to make contact because you're both releasing the brakes. The smart move, if he believes that he's going to pass me back, would be to brake and cut under. But if you ride like this, you are forcing contact and that's not correct. 

"And then you take wings off riders last week, you T-boned me last week, and nothing. And then this week you force the contact and then I get the penalty."

Asked by The Race about his view on the penalty - and specifically it demoting Miller to right behind him in the order - Aldeguer said: "He finished behind me, this is a good result - [but] at the end I lost my race. This is clear. 

"If some rider touches me, or I touch - like with Binder [in Portugal] - and it's on the limit, it's OK, but like this one, I think it's a bad way for him and also for me.

“I don't know if he did [this] because in Portimao I touched him in Turn 3 in the sprint and he lost some positions - but that was a first lap, where you have to look and search for your position, and race direction didn't take action. But with all of this, the important thing is we're OK for tomorrow."

Miller said he didn't go to the stewards' in the immediate aftermath "because it's better I don't" - but is "sure I will speak to Simon at a later date".

He admitted he was deliberately ignoring the sanction before it converted into a long lap, which Miller then served as he feared it could otherwise transfer to Sunday's race.

And he bristled at the idea of the new stewarding regime making strides in terms of consistency, pointing not just to Portimao but also Pecco Bagnaia seeing out the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi with a smoking bike - which Miller compared to his own sanction (€1000 and five minutes of practice) for bringing a smoking bike back to the pits during Friday practice in Austria.

"If you look at consistency - what happened with Binder last week? Not one penalty," he ranted. 

"What happened with me last week? Not one penalty. To speak about consistency is not even f***ing remotely in the picture. I get banned for 10 [five - ed. note] minutes of a session because my bike is smoking, and we let a bike complete nearly half the grand prix smoking and win the grand prix. I get a fine for the same thing. The f***ing consistency is not there. It's clear."

Mir won't like his penalty either

In another notable incident in the race, Mir tucked the front while trying to overtake team-mate Luca Marini - taking both works Hondas out of the race.

Mir was apologetic to Marini and the team - and Marini didn't want to discuss the incident because he felt he and Mir had sorted it privately.

But, speaking to the media before he was awarded a long lap penalty for the Sunday race, Mir had insisted he didn't see this as a mistake that warrants sanction.

"It was my mistake but it was not a crazy manoeuvre, it was nothing crazy - I was just overtaking him, I think I had something more.

"I am not very worried [about getting a penalty]. This is a bit the reality. It's not a corner that nobody overtakes at - I was overtaking, I lost the front, unluckily I hit Luca. I think if they penalise things like this, nobody will overtake."

Marini, who at the time of his session also didn't appear aware of the sanction, voiced his support for the stewards.

"They've done a good job this year, on the penalties," said Marini. "So, they need to take their decision because I think they've been quite fair all this season. And there is a big improvement compared to the past years. So we have to be satisfied about that."

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