Alex Marquez was very critical of a red flag decision that greatly affected how the 2025 Americas MotoGP race played out.
Right before the race was about to start, some rain came down. Because of this, the officials put up a red flag to delay everything.
Ducati’s Marc Marquez left his motor bike on the track since it was prepared for wet weather.
He headed to the pit lane to switch to a different motorcycle that was adjusted for dry weather conditions.
When Marquez stepped away from his bike and left his position, nine other riders also followed his lead and got off their bikes.
This caused a chaotic scene with people rushing around in the pitlane, unsure of what to do and creating quite a mess.
“It was chaos for everybody. We need a clear rule for that [situation] because it’s not really clear. I didn’t even know. I just followed the guys from the grid! Alex said.
“If they delayed the start just because of the chaos, it’s not the correct way. If it’s in the rules that you can [leave the grid], then they need to organise things better to be able to do it.” Alex said.
Every rider changed to bikes built for dry conditions, putting on bikes with smooth tires.
This was because the rain had stopped before the race was about to start, making it safe to use these bikes.
“Because it’s not fair that somebody can take the risk and then they delay the start.” Alex said.
“Imagine that I was on the grid with slicks. It wouldn’t be fair. Everything needs to be more clear on [how it is done].” he added.
Race director Mike Webb has explained that restarting the race was the safest way to deal with this strange situation.
He added that they plan to sit down with the teams to go over what happened and carefully review the rules to see if any changes are needed.
“We requested a delay and then a quick restart procedure due to safety concerns. Given the number of riders, bikes, and personnel in the pitlane, it was impossible to begin the warm-up lap,” Webb said.
“Restarting was the safest way to respond to an unprecedented situation. We will analyse the circumstances with the teams and review the rules.” he added.
