MotoGP: Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis hits out at 'inconsistent' FIM MotoGP Stewards following Fabio Quartararo penalty

Yamaha boss Lin Jarvis has called for “correct, balanced and consistent decisions” to be made by the FIM MotoGP Stewards following Fabio Quartararo’s incident with Aleix Espargaro at Assen.

Quartararo ran into his championship rival at turn five in Sunday’s race, with both riders heading off circuit and into the gravel. Both re-joined the race, with Espargaro fighting back from 15^th to finish fourth, closing the gap in the title fight to 21 points.

Meanwhile, Quartararo suffered another crash later in the race and was later handed a long lap penalty for his action, to be taken in the next race at Silverstone.

In a statement released this afternoon (June 28), it was revealed that the team wanted to appeal the sanction to the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS). Yamaha also stated the reasons why they disagree with the decision taken by the stewards:

“Whilst Quartararo has admitted to making a mistake at turn five at the TT Circuit Assen on lap five, Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP view this as a race incident,” the statement reads. “Quartararo has the reputation of being a clean rider, without a track record of prior incidents. It was an honest mistake without malicious intent.

“Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP acknowledges that Aleix Espargaro’s race was affected, but the severeness of the impact is a matter of conjecture. Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP feel the FIM MotoGP Stewards panel is measuring the severity of race incidents with inconsistent, subjective standards.

“The inconsistency with which penalties are applied by the FIM MotoGP Stewards panel during the 2022 season damages the fairness of MotoGP and the faith in the Stewards’ jurisdiction. There have been at least three more serious race incidents in the MotoGP class (resulting in riders retiring from the race and/or causing injuries) that we left unpunished.”

Jack Miller avoided any sanctions when he took Joan Mir out of the race at turn one in Portimao, whilst Pecco Bagnaia escaped any penalties when he hit Jorge Martin in the season opener at Qatar.

Likewise, Takaaki Nakagami wasn’t punished for wiping out Bagnaia and Alex Rins at the start of the Catalan Grand Prix, despite the incident leading to a broken wrist for Rins. Nakagami was also involved in a controversial incident with Rins at Mugello, but no penalty was given.

“Fabio Quartararo, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team, and Yamaha have always striven for fairness and sportsmanship in MotoGP, Jarvis added. “We are disappointed to see the inequality with which penalties are applied by the FIM MotoGP Stewards Panel.

“We wanted to appeal the decision to the Stewards on Sunday at the Assen track, but this type of penalty is not open to discussion or appeal. We then wanted to raise the issue, as a matter of principle, with CAS, but equally such a matter is not open to appeal.

“It is precisely for these reasons that correct, balanced, and consistent decisions should be taken by the Stewards in the first place, and executed within the correct, reasonable time frame.”

Today’s statement comes after Rins expressed his anger towards the stewards following the aforementioned incident in Barcelona. In an interview after the race, Rins stated that the stewards “are not on the level of MotoGP.”

Quartararo also posted his anger on Instagram after being handed the long lap penalty:

“Now you can’t try and overtake because they think you are too ambitious,” he told his social media followers. “From the beginning of the year some riders made ‘racing incident’ but apparently mine was too dangerous.

“Congratulations to the stewards for the amazing job you are doing. Next time, I won’t try any overtake to think about not taking a penalty.”