ZER0

I do genuinely think Marc was out to harass Rossi.

As he was in the last race; it's just too much of a coincidence that Marc did the fastest lap of the race (not his personal fastest, the fastest of everyone in the whole race!) on the very last lap, and suddenly managed to leave Rossi behind, catch Lorenzo, overtake him and take the win.

I think Marc's running wide this week when Lorenzo passed was real, but he certainly didn't put up any fight or chase him down. But then spent ages fighting with Rossi. Marc was definitely slowing down, he admitted that himself, but he blames the feel from the tyres.

I am a huge Rossi fan and I'm all for a good battle, and don't think for a second that Rossi should be handed the title. But Marc could have started pulling away from Rossi, but instead slowed down, messing up his race deliberately and watching Lorenzo pull away.

Even Race Director Mike Webb agrees with all of that. In Race Controls official statement he said "...our opinion was that there was some fault on both sides, but as far as the rulebook goes Marquez did not make any contact, did not break any rules as such, but we feel that his behaviour was causing problems to Rossi who reacted. Unfortunately he reacted in a way that is against the rules.”

Yes, Rossi was in the wrong for running Marc wide, but he didn't make him crash. That was Marc leaning on Rossi. And there was no kick, as is clear from the helicopter footage.

I think Rossi should be penalised for his reaction, I'm not sure how though, but so should Marc for his behaviour. All I know is that making Rossi start from the back makes it almost impossible for him to win now. Which is such a shame as he came 2nd last year and has had a fantastic year. Leading the championship pretty much the whole year, and only being off the podium twice. That's pretty good going, especially for a 36 year old. (Not that that's old in real life terms of course, but for a racer going against people like Marc who's 22 it must be a factor.)