Rossi: Marquez embarrassed MotoGP by helping Lorenzo win

Although Rossi made it from the back of the grid to fourth, his Yamaha team-mate Lorenzo snatched the title by five points as he won ahead of Honda riders Marquez and Dani Pedrosa.

Marquez - who is embroiled in a long-running spat with Rossi - had already denied protecting Lorenzo in the deciding race, but Rossi said the 2013/14 champion had tarnished the season.

"I think this championship had the potential to become one of the best of the last years because the battle with Jorge could go to the last point of the last race," said Rossi.

"But unfortunately in the last three races something changed, something happened that nobody expected.

"That is that Marc Marquez decided to protect Lorenzo and help him win the championship. The problem started at Phillip Island and the situation became worse and worse.

"When I knew on Thursday that I had to start last, I knew already that my championship was finished because I knew Marquez would want to finish his work and protect Lorenzo in the last race.

"It happened exactly as I expected.

"The race was quite embarrassing. The last lap was, I think, quite bad for all the sport.

"I was ready to lose the championship to Jorge, who is always very fast, on the track. But in this way it's not fair."

Marquez argued that he had been trying to pass Lorenzo in the closing laps but was stymied by yellow flags and then Pedrosa catching and battling with him - an account Rossi dismissed.

"If you check the races of Marc Marquez in the last two years, you'll know that he always tries to overtake and at the minimum he'd try to overtake on the last lap," said the Italian.

"So the first question is why Marc Marquez never tried to overtake Jorge Lorenzo and never tried to make one attempt on the last lap."

Pedrosa came from 2.5s behind to join the lead battle at the finish, a turnaround Rossi said proved Lorenzo - whose tyres were fading - was slow enough for Marquez to pass.

"The situation became very embarrassing for Pedrosa," he said.

"He was far behind and in the last two or three laps recovered two seconds.

"It means that was the pace of Jorge, and Marc Marquez just waited. It is clear that he helped Jorge."

Rossi argued that Honda was either in cohorts with Lorenzo or should find Marquez's performance unacceptable.

"For me the position of Honda is very hard to understand," he said.

"I don't know how a manufacturer can agree that one of its riders makes Yamaha win and only tries to fight with his team-mate. Sincerely, I don't understand."