Why priorities are wrong in MotoGP

Two things happened on Saturday during the Aragon Grand Prix weekend that were massively perplexing. One is that a rider, Nicolo Bulega of Valentino Rossi's Moto3 team, was fined for displaying an "offensive hand gesture".

The other, and the more disturbing of the two, is that Danilo Petrucci completed the day's MotoGP track activity despite taking a hefty knock to his head during the morning practice session.

Displaying plenty of signs of concussion, the Pramac Ducati rider admitted after qualifying that he didn't remember where he crashed and had memory loss spanning "some hours".

Together, and linked by officialdom, they represent a very backwards set of priorities.

The more laughable topic, obviously, is hand gestures. Seemingly prompted by Rossi's spat with Aleix Espargaro during practice at Misano after he felt he was blocked by the Suzuki, riders were emailed between races and informed of the new guidelines and told that fines could be levied by governing body the FIM.

"You're not allowed to stick fingers up, wanker signs, nothing," Cal Crutchlow surmised, before joking that the measures would send him bankrupt.

One of the more expressive riders on the grid, Crutchlow is primarily disappointed by the measure, saying that gestures "add a little bit of spice" to the show. That view was the prevailing one throughout the Aragon paddock. We want to see riders being human while they're out there.

Being angry is natural if you've been carved up or blocked, and that's an obvious feeling to convey to the rider who has wronged you. Especially in the heat of the moment.

It's good for the show as well, be it live TV or the world of social media. Given how widely it was circulated, you probably saw Scott Dixon's little video from the Sonoma IndyCar warm-up, in which he reacted to Will Power going off track ahead of him.

In MotoGP, Dixon would now be fined for that.

Sure, it might be difficult to explain to the young 'uns, but it was otherwise a bit of fun, and added colour to what was going on.

On two wheels it's much the same. Riders can't exactly yell their thoughts at rivals in the same way that, say, footballers can, so hands become the universal language.

"If you are angry at someone, you should be able to give them the sort of gesture to tell them they did something wrong or whatever," Crutchlow adds.

Yes, there is a level of wanting it to remain a family-friendly show. But as long as we don't stray into areas where genuine offense can be taken, such as sexuality, race or religion, there is little harm in it.

And who, in 2016, is really offended by a raised middle finger? Chances are, if they are, they are not watching a sport such as motorcycle racing, anyway. It has all the hallmarks of over-officiating, like Formula 1's pointless decision to stop drivers changing their helmet designs during a season.

But it seems like it's here to stay, and on Saturday Bulega became the first rider to be pinged, handed a €300 fine for his display during Moto3's third practice session, when he was frustrated at being stuck in traffic.

Some of the time used to devise and implement that new framework to fine riders really should be redirected to the issue of concussion.

In Saturday morning's third MotoGP practice session, Petrucci was thrown from his bike as he left Aragon's pitlane, when Pol Espargaro's crashed Tech3 Yamaha flew across his path from Turn 2. Petrucci landed on the track surface, on his right shoulder and then his upper back and the back of his helmet.

He was up almost immediately, jogged back to the pitlane and then headed out again on his second bike to finish the session. Before the next session he visited the doctors and was cleared to take part in the rest of the day.

For the avoidance of doubt, I'm not a medical professional, but I would be amazed if his knock did not prompt what is officially classed as a concussion.

The UK's National Health Service defines concussion as "the sudden but shortlived loss of mental function that occurs after a blow or other injury to the head. It is the most common but least serious type of brain injury. The medical term for concussion is minor traumatic brain injury."

It also lists the symptoms of concussion as including brief "loss of consciousness after the head injury; periods of memory loss; disturbances in vision, such as 'seeing stars' or blurry vision; a period of confusion, a blank expression, or a delay in answering questions immediately after the head injury".

Having attended Petrucci's media debrief after qualifying on Saturday and hearing what he said, and then having been told how confused he was when he got back to the Pramac Ducati garage, I'd say that fits the bill.

"I was conscious, but I did not remember where I was and I said, 'Look, I'm OK, I'm standing and my bones are altogether'," he said.

"So I came back to the pits, but when I went out I didn't remember where I was, I didn't remember the next time where [the crash was] and I was quite scared. I did six laps this morning and I did not remember, I think, four and a half of them."

Petrucci had further checks on Saturday afternoon and then Sunday morning and was cleared to race. That he took out team-mate Scott Redding on the first lap is neither here nor there. He says "the mistake was not a consequence of yesterday", but in reality he really should not have been out there at all.

The FIM's 2016 medical code outlines the following on "head injuries".

"In the event of a suspected concussion the rider should be assessed using a recognised assessment tool such as the SCAT3 or similar. If the assessment confirms a concussion the rider should immediately be excluded from competition for at least the rest of the event.

"Prior to returning to competition the rider should be assessed for and provide documentary evidence of a return to normal neuro-physiological function using for example the IMPACT system, functional MRI scan or similar."

SCAT3, the third version of the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool, is recognised as sport's industry standard. It includes physical assessment, but also includes questions the subject must answer, including correctly naming the date, and challenges to correctly order numbers. You can have a look at it here.

In July, Aprilia rider Stefan Bradl was ruled out of his home race at the Sachsenring on that basis, after a heavy fall during the morning warm-up session.

But did Petrucci slip through gaps in the tests? I'd argue that if he can't remember several hours of Saturday, including where the accident happened, that should mean the tests are irrelevant.

Motorsport as a whole is fairly late to the party when it comes to concussion, but has made progress in recent years.

The hysteria and scepticism around McLaren Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso's testing accident last year (pictured below), which ruled him out of the first grand prix of the season, showed that there is still work to be done on educating the industry and broader public on the risks involved when it comes to head trauma.

Things are a little more advanced in the US, where - unfortunately - brain damage within NFL players has become a trend.

That has, correctly but not proactively, prompted an increased level of scrutiny, which has been adopted by other impact sports in other parts of the world. Many now have in-game checks if a concussion is suspected, and a framework for a minimum time before returning.

But even still, the slow and ultimately incorrect diagnosis of Power's concussion at the first IndyCar race of the 2016 season in St Petersburg was disturbing. Things were smoother when the situation recurred for Power later in the season at Watkins Glen.

A better approach has been taken with the biggest name in US motorsport, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Having missed two races following a concussion in 2012, Earnhardt has missed the bulk of this year after a recurrence triggered by an accident at Michigan in June. He sensibly opted against trying to race again this year, and is now encouraged by the signs of recovery.

"My goal was to see Dale become a human being again and I can tell you with confidence that is occurring in front of our eyes," his doctor Micky Collins said earlier this month.

Racing seems pretty secondary when you have a doctor using terms like "become a human being again".

Motorcycle racers are a different breed, even to racecar drivers. We have seen and admired several reminders of that this year in MotoGP.

Marc Marquez jumped back on his Honda within hours of dislocating his left shoulder in a crash at the Red Bull Ring. Jack Miller returned from a broken right foot, then tried to race following back and hand injuries, but being on the bike made the latter worse. And Andrea Iannone (pictured below) attempted in vain to ride at Misano and then Aragon after fracturing the T3 vertebra in his upper back. He was ruled out in the first instance, then wisely withdrew from the second.

These are injuries that would rule athletes out of most sports for significant periods of time. Athletes who are not vaulting around expanses of asphalt at average speeds in excess of 100mph, in the case of Aragon, on 160kg lumps of metal.

If they think they are fit enough to race, and you let them race, they will. It's what they want to do, and what their lives are built around.

Have you ever, as an adult, been told you can't do something you want to do? It sucks. Even when it's something as trivial as entering a building through a certain door. So a MotoGP rider is almost never going to willingly stand down if he thinks he's good to race.

Of Petrucci's accident, Espargaro called it a "really special case", and thought back to a crash of his own while racing in the 125cc class.

"When you are sitting and when you get up from the dirt, you feel OK, but you hit the head," he said.

"At that moment, you feel a little bit like you cannot see clearly but you feel OK; you don't feel like you are sick or you are not good. You think that you are not bad, but you are not OK. In that case, this can happen. It's not safe, but this situation is very special.

"When I crashed it was wet, I went out again and in the same corner, the first corner exiting the pits, I had a highside and I broke a collarbone. And I didn't know anything from the second crash. After we checked my head everything was OK, but when you have a hit on the head, doctors said it can happen, you are not 100% focused."

The biggest issue after a concussion is not a broken collarbone. They tend to heal, like a leg or an arm. It's shaking your brain up again when it's already recovering from a trauma. Avoiding repeat concussions is why the frameworks exist in sport, leading to the sensible approaches taken by the likes of Alonso and Earnhardt in the last 18 months.

A rider going back out on his MotoGP bike within about 15 minutes is pretty much at the opposite end of that spectrum.

So when it comes to the risk of serious head or spine injuries, decisions about whether to continue should be taken out of riders' hands, as they are never going to stand down. The framework should support but also protect riders in situations like Petrucci's. And, importantly, protect every other rider he was going to be sharing the track with.

Surely that should be the priority, not being overzealous about riders getting fired up in the heat of the moment and directing a finger at a rival.