Keith Huewen: Honda right to protest 'sloppy' Marquez penalty

Marquez received the sanction for causing a brutal accident with Miguel Oliveira in the Portimao season opener.

The wording of Marquez’s original penalty, which he accepted, was that the long laps were to be served in Argentina.

But when Marquez was subsequently ruled out of that event due to injury, the FIM Stewards changed the ‘application’ of the penalty to Marquez’s next race back.

That ‘modification’ prompted a protest from Repsol Honda, which will now be decided by the MotoGP Court of Appeal. However, the possibility that Marquez might not serve any long laps for such an obvious mistake has prompted an angry reaction from some fans.

“I don't think Honda should be slammed for this at all,” said former grand prix rider and British champion Huewen. “They have been trolled terribly on social media, but Honda are only doing what is right.

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“I would hold Honda more responsible for not challenging this, rather than the fact they have. I know it doesn't go down well with the fans and all the rest of it and everybody is having a go at Marc Marquez.

“But the fact is, if the sanction was written so sloppily and there's a great big gap that you can drive a bus through, then drive it through! Honda should not be vilified for basically showing up this particular [penalty] to be so poorly written.

“And if they, I'll use the words ‘get away with it’, well that's not their fault. They're not getting away with it. They are working to the letter of the law.

“It's like a technical regulation. How many times have Ducati come up with something by spotting a gap in the wording of the rules and they're praised for their innovation? So the same thing goes for something like this.

“Honda’s lawyers have told them that they think there's a good case and this is a world championship at the end of the day. With 42 races in a season, Marc Marquez could still win the world championship and this might make the difference. So if you're Honda, you're going to be fighting tooth and nail.”

Crash.net’s MotoGP editor Pete McLaren said: “On the ‘getting away with it’ angle, it’s roughly 3 seconds per long lap, so if Marquez had served the penalties in Argentina it would have cost him about 6 seconds, so maybe half-a-dozen places or around 7-8 points.

“By missing the whole event as he did, he’s potentially lost out on 37 points. So he hasn't got off scot-free, even if he doesn't serve the long laps in future. But the bit that we're all uncomfortable with is that Miguel Oliveira was also out injured. So the guy that Marquez took out suffered that same potential points loss.

“Either way, let's hope that the wording of these penalties will be sorted out so that it is clear for everybody whether it applies to a rider’s ‘next race’ or to a specific event, which a rider may not actually attend.

“Former FIM president Vito Ippolito made an interesting point on Twitter, about how long laps are great if they are served in the race where the incident occurs. So it’s all done and dusted in the same event.

“But they don’t work so well as a punishment when they are carried over to following rounds, when maybe other penalties would work better.”

Huewen added: “Presumably, if he had passed the fitness test, Marquez could even have turned up in Argentina, done a few laps just to get the long laps out of the way and then pulled in...”

Repsol Honda has now confirmed that Marquez will also miss this weekend’s COTA round, due to his hand injury from Portimao. Oliveira is still aiming to return in Texas.

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