'The harshest penalty ever seen in MotoGP' Acosta gives his thoughts on Bezzecchi slap incident

The Czech Grand Prix truly gave us everything with drama, controversy, debates and talking points during one of the most crucial parts of the MotoGP season. Ai Ogura achieved his maiden pole position in the premier class, finally overcoming one of his only real weaknesses and establishing himself as a genuine contender. Next came the sprint race in which Francesco Bagnaia finally regained his place on the top step of the podium for the first time since Japan last year. However, the victory was somewhat overshadowed by a controversial incident involving Marco Bezzecchi and a trackside marshal - during which the Italian rider could be seen slapping the marshal in the face.

As if that wasn't enough, Bezzecchi was handed a race ban for the Czech Grand Prix, and Marc Marquez took full advantage by claiming his second consecutive win this year, beating both Ogura and Bagnaia who did everything possible to try and stop him. After last week's disaster in Hungary, Bezzecchi's lead in the championship standings is now coming under serious threat with the top seven riders all separated by around 50 points heading to Assen.

Acosta summed up his disastrous weekend while speaking to Spanish outlet Diario AS. Once again, tyre pressure issues played a role in the 22-year-old's gradual drop back through the pack, where he went from P4 to P6 before having to retire the bike:

"If it stalls… those are things that are out of my control. Today I needed a good start, I needed good first laps. I did that, then my front tire pressure dropped and I let Diggia pass. It's true that he had more pace than me and he pulled away very quickly. It's true that perhaps I wasn't as attentive as I should have been; he got away very fast and I wasn't getting any temperature up either. I kept looking at the screens to see if the group behind was very large, I saw that it was only Joan and Fermín and I said, this is my group to try and see if I can increase the pressure. I did many laps behind Mir. My pressure increased, it was within the range it should be, and since I had more pace, it was just a matter of passing and pushing a little harder to be somewhat sure of finishing in that top 5. It's a shame the race was one lap too long."

The technical issue was hadly a one-off. All throughout the first half of the season, KTM in particular have suffered a range of engine cut-outs, the most notable of which led to a shocking crash in Barcelona after which Gresini's Alex Marquez was hospitalized with a fractured neck vertebrae. Nonetheless, very little pressure has been put on KTM to explain the persistent issue, leading some to speculate that it could be lean engine mappings causing the unexpected cut-outs. Acosta, however, remained diplomatic in his response:

"There’s no answer. Now they have to send everything to Austria and figure out what’s going on because it’s not the first time. I’m not talking about the entire history of KTM, but in these nine Grand Prix races it’s become a recurring theme. Things that are out of my hands, I can’t control them. It’s a miracle we were in the top 5 on a weekend that looked like it was going to be difficult."

Rather than the race itself, which was packed with plenty of incidents and overtakes, the real story of the weekend centered around the unfortunate incident between Marco Bezzecchi and a track marshal. Having crashed out of the sprint race in the closing laps, one of the marshals recovering the bike revved the throttle hard, causing Bezzecchi to run over to him and hit the bike's killswitch to prevent engine damage or worse. In the heated moment, Bezzecchi could be seen first shoving the marshal's face, then slapping him in the face afterwards.

Bezzecchi apologised both publicly and in private to the marshal in question, who also gave his perspective on the situation, but was handed an immediate 1-race ban for the Sunday race. Despite appeals from Aprilia on the grounds that the penalty was not proportionate to the 'crime', the FIM stuck with their decision.

While Bezzecchi recieved a huge amount of criticism from fans and journalists alike, many riders were more sympathetic to his frustrations given the full context of the situation. When asked for his view on the situation, Acosta, known to be a fiery character himself, gave a decisive answer:

"I don't have much of an opinion on Bezzecchi's case. It's probably the harshest penalty ever seen in MotoGP."

As for his future Ducati teammate, Marc Marquez, Acosta was not the least bit surprised to see him return to winning ways so soon:

"You can never say you have to kill off a World Championship when we've only had 9 races and there are 14 left. But Marc is still Marc, this guy hasn't forgotten how to ride a motorcycle. It's not a surprise. I think we all expected it. Even you guys. He came back after having his arm practically hanging off, right? So, he wasn't going to come back for a screw? A guy who has won nine titles, he didn't win them by chance. You can win one by chance, two, but nine… nine is a lot."

Heading to the Dutch Grand Prix this weekend at the legendary Assen circuit, Acosta seemed a bit more optimistic that he will be able to make the difference, using Yamaha as a previous example:

"I'm a little less worried about the Netherlands, because Yamaha has won there many years and it wasn't even the most powerful bike. They know what they'll have to do to prevent this from happening, and I'll try to give 100% with what they give me; they can't ask much more of me than that."