Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia grilled over “bad feeling” and “awkwardness”

The personal relationship between Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia has been placed under the spotlight after their collision at the Portuguese MotoGP.

Although Bagnaia’s manoeuvre to overtake Marquez which resulted in contact, knocking them both off their bikes, was ruled a racing incident, it has caused debate about where the fault lies and what the fallout will be.

Marquez’s arrival into the Ducati clan, where Bagnaia is the star man and the reigning MotoGP champion, adds a layer of intrigue into their clash.

Marquez was asked by MotoGP.com if “bad feeling” or “awkwardness” existed with Bagnaia afterwards.

“Of course it’s impossible to be in agreement, between two riders, one hour after the incident,” Marquez responded.

“But we have a good relationship with Pecco. No problem.

“He knows what he did. He knows what mistake he did.

“I accept that these things happen in races.”

Bagnaia was asked if the clash would impact his relationship with Marquez.

“No,” he insisted. “It’s something that, unluckily, can happen.”

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But inevitably it will live long in the memories of both riders as they attempt to build a championship challenge this year.

And it will give Ducati some thought about how to manage the situation, and the fallout could perhaps even impact whether they want Marquez as Bagnaia’s teammate in red next year.

Davide Tardozzi, Ducati team boss, accompanied Marquez and Bagnaia into Race Direction where the collision was ruled a racing incident.

Bagnaia revealed what they said inside the private hearing.

“We both went to the side of ‘no penalty’, obviously,” he explained.

“But we are two different guys with different mentalities. So, different points of view.”

Marquez’s side of the story: “When Race Direction came to me, I said ‘it was on the red line, you must decide’.”

Bagnaia then described his attempted overtake on the inside of Marquez.

“When Marc arrived, he overtook me. I tried to cross the line,” he said. “He tried to close his line, and we collided.

“Unluckily it ended with zero points. In the next race we have to fight back to close the gap.”

Marquez laid the blame at Bagnaia’s door: “Of course, these things happen in races. But I didn’t expect that mistake from Pecco in this race because we were fighting for fifth position.

“In the end, two points more or two points less…

“We both finished in the gravel.

“This is something that can affect us a lot at the end of the championship.

“He was suffering a lot at the end, I was suffering at the beginning. I was catching him.

“You know that when you are suffering, sooner or later after three or four laps, the other rider will catch you. You have to accept this.

“He came back in an optimistic way, and we finished in the gravel.”