Quartararo: Silverstone first-lap crash caused by Rins error
Petronas Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo said his crash at the beginning of MotoGP's British GP was triggered by Alex Rins' error ahead of him
Quartararo had a highside at Copse right after the start, and his Yamaha was then hit by Andrea Dovizioso, who suffered temporary memory loss after the accident and was hospitalised for precautionary checks.
Quartararo explained that his crash occurred because Rins, having passed him, had nearly lost his bike going through the corner right ahead.
In order not to hit Rins, Quartararo "shut the throttle a bit too aggressively", and the Frenchman claimed that without Rins' mistake he would not have crashed.
"We had a good start, unfortunately on the first corner, Rins overtook me," said Quartararo.
"He lost quite a lot the rear and I shut the throttle a bit too aggressively to not go into him and I just make a big slide. Unfortunately I had a highside.
"I am okay, quite lucky that I haven't broken something, that is positive. I think Dovi is quite unwell because he had a big crash.
"I didn't even see that he touched the bike - he went over the bike. It was just after when I got up I saw he crashed also.
"If Rins didn't make a mistake, for sure [we'd have kept] sliding and just at this moment I was starting to pick up the bike. For me was just a matter of luck."
The British GP was eventually decided between Rins and Marquez, but Quartararo reckoned that his own pace from the weekend was "really good to fight with them".
"During the morning with 16 laps on the tyre we make [1m]59.6s, that is something that was really good for us. The pace was really good but during the race is difficult to know if we had an opportunity to win.
"If we check on paper, the pace was really good for fight with them [Marc and Rins]."
Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi elaborated on the condition of Dovizioso, who suffered from temporary memory loss after the crash.
"Andrea now is going by helicopter to Coventry because they would like to take a scan. For a couple of minutes - 15-20 minutes - he lost his memory.
"Finally he remembered everything - in the beginning he said he [had] made a big fault, then he said no. He started to think and he said 'oh, [it] was not my fault'.
"We started to joke a bit but the medicians [doctors] would like to make these scans to be sure. He has pain on the right side of the hip but finally is nothing broken.
"We'll what the scan says tonight and I hope that he will be in Misano for the test."
The Misano test will begin in four days' time, on 29th and 30th August.
Andrea Dovizioso taken for hospital checks after British GP crash
Rins lost track of last lap in Marquez MotoGP Silverstone battle
Bathurst 12 Hour: Van Gisbergen Mercedes leads after first quarter
Shane van Gisbergen’s Triple Eight Mercedes headed Matt Campbell’s Manthey Porsche after three hours of racing at Mount Panorama in the Bathurst 12 Hour.
Tanak scores first Puma win in preparation for WRC Rally Sweden
Ott Tanak claimed his first victory driving an M-Sport Ford Puma after winning the Otepaa Winter Rally in preparation for next week’s World Rally Championship round in Sweden.
Ranking the worst Formula 1 cars to win a grand prix
Cars that rarely looked like contenders for victory have occasionally slipped through the net to become winners of world championship Formula 1 races. But which was the worst of the bunch?
Schumacher radio criticism highlighted F1 privacy change for Russell
George Russell says that the way an off-the-cuff radio remark criticising Mick Schumacher last year became a big deal shows how he is more under the spotlight in Formula 1.
The other Suzuki signing that could transform Honda's MotoGP form
Following Suzuki's decision to quit MotoGP, both of its former riders have landed at Honda for 2023. But perhaps its biggest signing from the now-defunct team could instead be a highly-rated technical manager. Is Ken Kawauchi the right man at the right time to steer HRC back to glory?
How the MotoGP paddock has offered refuge to Suzuki's former team
Suzuki's unexpected departure left more than 40 professionals virtually jobless for the 2023 MotoGP season. But that human drama has been successfully corrected by the paddock itself, with most former Suzuki crew-members absorbed into other operations
How one MotoGP team went from title fights to losing it all in four years
The Petronas Sepang Racing Team came into MotoGP with a bang in 2019 as regular front-runners, with wonder rookie Fabio Quartararo mounting a title challenge in 2020. But it all went wrong for the Razlan Razali-helmed squad as the team changed hands and tumbled down the order - and RNF Racing plans to right this in 2023
Is MotoGP's comeback king ready to reclaim his throne?
Marc Marquez’s sixth premier MotoGP title seems a long time ago given the injury woes he has faced in the three years since. At the end of a fraught 2022, in which he had a fourth major operation on his right arm, the Spaniard speaks exclusively to Autosport
How MotoGP’s underachiever is working to reverse its fortunes in 2023
As European manufacturers emerged as the strongest force in 2022 in a changing of the guard for MotoGP, one powerhouse couldn’t quite match the feats of Ducati and Aprilia. Its motorsport chief tells Autosport why this is and what it is doing to become a consistent frontrunner in the class of kings
How MotoGP riders are preparing for the physical stress of sprint races
With the expansion of the calendar to 21 grands prix and the introduction of sprint races, the 2023 MotoGP season will take the riders to almost 1,300 kilometres of competition more than this year, a factor that forces adjustments in their physical preparations.
The Ducati rider who is much more than just the brother of a MotoGP legend
Surname pressure is something many have had to deal with in their motorsport careers. And while Luca Marini doesn’t have that, his familial relation and the team he rides for in MotoGP have cast a brighter spotlight on his progress. But, as he has shown in 2022 – and as he reveals to Autosport – Marini is so much more than just the brother of a legend
Ranking the top 10 riders of MotoGP 2022
The 2022 MotoGP season was another hotly contested championship, with Francesco Bagnaia emerging as the title winner after the campaign went to the wire. Autosport picks out the 10 best performers of the season
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.