Joan Mir was left "surprised and upset" by what he felt was an overly lenient penalty handed down to rival Jack Miller for their high-speed collision in MotoGP's Aragon Grand Prix sprint.
Miller and Mir came together at Turn 12 while battling for 10th place on the second lap of 12, with the contact sending both off track - and Mir into the gravel trap, where he braked and fell to avoid going into the outside wall.
While the collision itself wasn't televised - only its immediate aftermath - The Race understands it came about at the apex, after Miller launched an attack on Mir down the inside of the corner.
The Australian had a minor slide in trying to complete the move so made contact with Mir's Honda.
Miller was swiftly assessed a long-lap penalty for his role in the incident, and was effectively ruled out of any points contention by this, finishing 13th. He was already likely on course to miss the points when he served the sanction.
"It would be better to ask him [Miller] what happened," Mir said of the incident.
"The consequence of his action was my DNF, no? I could not complete the race due to this action, he was completely out of control.
"And we both touched and I went straight into the wall, I had to brake in the gravel and then I crashed.
"I know the consequence but I don't know the reason why. I will not get more deeply into it because I will let you judge the action and the penalty if it's fair enough. And that's it."
But after being pressed further, Mir acknowledged he'd felt the penalty was insufficient - and that he wasn't too impressed after his visit with the new stewarding panel headed up by Simon Crafar.
"On TV they didn't show the manoeuvre, but in race direction they have in every position what really happened.
"I was honestly surprised and upset. Because the wall was very close and due to his action he [Miller] lost his race. There was no reason to do that manoeuvre. And he did it, he destroyed my race and he only got a long lap.
"For me it is not enough, for this type of action. But... I don't know."
Miller's apology and reasoning
Miller said he hadn't talked to Mir about it yet but acknowledged he had made an error - although in the process evoked a famously unapologetic Ayrton Senna quote.
"I f***ed up. I made contact. You know the old saying 'if you don't go for a gap, you're no longer a racer' - and I mean, there was a gap there, I was trying to make it work," he said.
"I had what I felt was better pace than the guys around me, I was trying to make moves forward - it was very follow-the-leader there on the first lap.
"When I went into 12, I was trying to make a pass, I was very strong down the brakes but I had to go a little tighter than I'd anticipated - and basically here as soon as you get out of the f***ing line, there's no grip.
"I caused another guy to crash, OK, he fell over in the gravel, but this was my mistake.”
Miller said Mir and Honda team boss Alberto Puig were lobbying for a harsher penalty - but felt his long-lap was consistent with Crafar's system.
"It's a scale, like a build-up thing, and it's a first offence for me this season - and it was a legitimate overtaking manoeuvre," he insisted. "From all the onboard cameras, you can see, I was close and trying to overtake. I was not anticipating to have this massive slide on the f***ing dirty stuff. But like I said, it's f***ing hard to race around here.
"As soon as I got on the dirty s**t, I tried to stop it.
"I made the exact same pass work with [Johann] Zarco later on in the race. Because I had this experience with Mir, I was anticipating the f***ing massive slide that was coming when I crossed the dirty stuff. I was ready for it, had the massive slide, caught it, lost the front a little bit, Zarco was there but it put me close enough then to pass him in the last corner on the inside."
