Marco Bezzecchi: Morbidelli incident ‘pissed me off, apology accepted’ | Binder scare

After injuring his right foot when he was brutally taken out at Turn 1 of the Silverstone Sprint, Marco Bezzecchi was lucky to avoid another incident at the start of Sunday’s British MotoGP.

Bezzecchi had been launched from his GP23 when friend, fellow Academy member and 2025 VR46 replacement Franco Morbidelli lost control under braking and hit the back of his Desmosedici on Saturday afternoon.

“[Morbidelli] came to visit me after the session. He apologised. It’s a mistake that pissed me off of course. But what can I say? It had already happened, so I accept his apology and I'm sure he didn't do it on purpose," Bezzecchi said.

"So in the end, everything is OK."

Morbidelli received a double long lap penalty by the FIM Stewards for 'riding in an irresponsible manner, causing a crash'.

The Sunday start then saw Brad Binder - starting two rows ahead of Bezzecchi - slow to a crawl due to a clutch issue with his KTM.

“I almost hit Brad who had an issue with the bike,” Bezzecchi explained. “Jack [Miller] moved at the last second and [then] I almost hit him. So I went a bit backwards.”

The evasive action cost the Italian several places and he finished the opening lap in 13th, despite Trackhouse team-mates Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira crashing out ahead.

Bezzecchi then regained ground by passing Fabio Quartararo, Morbidelli, Maverick Vinales, Jack Miller and finally Pedro Acosta.

“During the race the pain was not too bad in the beginning with the adrenaline and everything. But in the last 6-8 laps I started to feel like less sensitivity in all the leg, but especially in the foot,” said the 2025 factory Aprilia rider.

“So it was really tough to understand how much rear brake I was using, so this was a little bit the limit. But, apart from this, the race was good.

“The injury was painful, but I could manage. It was more the start that created a problem for me because without the [scare] with Brad probably I could have been more in front.

“I think this was the biggest issue. The injury was not helping but I tried to survive.”

Team-mate Fabio di Giannantonio finished in fifth place.