Pedro Acosta had a direct view of one of the Qatar Sprint’s most serious incidents, running between Francesco Bagnaia and Fermin Aldeguer as they approached the final corner of the opening lap. Aldeguer went for a pass on Acosta, misjudged the move and struck Bagnaia’s rear wheel. The impact launched Bagnaia from the bike and left him with fractures to two metatarsals in his foot.

Acosta called it the worst crash he had seen up close in MotoGP for a long time. He also considered Bagnaia relatively fortunate, given how much more severe the consequences of the impact could have been. The red flag stopped the Sprint, which was then resumed with a 10-lap restart.

Acosta’s reaction was not limited to criticising Aldeguer’s move. He also offered some understanding of the circumstances, pointing out that Aldeguer was competing again after breaking his hand in Indonesia at the beginning of October. Getting back onto a MotoGP bike after a long absence means adapting again to its aerodynamics and its sometimes unnatural reactions, and Acosta said mistakes can happen in that situation.

The restart exposed a tyre problem

On track, Acosta finished sixth, an improvement on Friday, when he had ended Practice outside the top 10. The second start did not follow the same pattern as the first, however. Acosta said he could not get the tyres into the operating window he needed and consequently failed to recover the required rhythm.

He related the problem to a similar difficulty during the third start in Barcelona earlier in the year. In Acosta’s view, the team may need to work closer to the limit when setting and managing tyre pressures. After earlier problems caused by low pressures, the approach became too cautious; the next task is to find a better compromise. Acosta is expected to replace Bagnaia at Ducati Lenovo next season.