Francesco Bagnaia calls for “sensitivity” as Sepang Clash documentary airs

Francesco Bagnaia has questioned MotoGP’s decision to release a short documentary marking the 10th anniversary of the infamous and divisive episode between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez.

The Sepang circuit will forever be remembered as the place where the rivalry between Marquez and Rossi reached its peak. The latter arrived in Malaysia in 2015 with an 11-point lead at the top of the standings over his Yamaha team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, with only two rounds remaining in the season. During the pre-event press conference, Italy’s Rossi openly accused Marquez of deliberately helping fellow Spaniard Lorenzo – remarks that left everyone in shock, including Marquez himself.

But nobody could have imagined how far tensions between Rossi and Marquez would escalate once the race began on Sunday. The on-track clash between the two ended with Marquez, then Honda’s flagship rider, on the ground after being forced wide by Rossi, who was accused of intentionally putting out his leg to knock him down.

In response to the incident, the stewards handed Rossi three penalty points on his licence. Given that he already had prior transgressions, this forced him to start the final race in Valencia from last position.

Lorenzo’s victory there, coupled with Rossi’s fourth place, crowned the Mallorcan world champion and had a devastating effect on the fan base, which was permanently split into Rossistas and Marquistas following the so-called ‘Sepang Clash’.

The aftermath of the famous Sepang Clash

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of that episode at last weekend’s Malaysian GP, championship promoter Dorna released a 26-minute documentary revisiting the events. The footage includes some of the key figures, such as Lorenzo, Andrea Dovizioso and Dani Pedrosa (the race winner that day), but not the two main protagonists. At one point, a very young Bagnaia also appears in the background of Rossi’s garage – a detail the current Ducati rider says he didn’t quite understand.

The remarks came as Bagnaia was highly critical of those who decided to continue with this year’s Malaysian Grand Prix schedule after the accident involving Jose Antonio Rueda and Noah Dettwiler.

He appealed for greater sensitivity from those responsible for deciding when such traumatic events become too much for riders to continue and questioned whether it might have been wiser to suspend the Moto3 race.

The two-time MotoGP world champion compared that situation to the decision to release the documentary about what happened 10 years ago between Rossi and Marquez.

“In many aspects, riders have a sensitivity that those making certain decisions simply don’t have,” Bagnaia said. “The idea of releasing a documentary about the Sepang Clash was not a brilliant one.”

Along with aspects of casting and his own unwilling involvement, Bagnaia was not comfortable with the timing of the release given that Marco Simoncelli lost his life in an accident at Sepang on 23 October 2011.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Qian Jun / MB Media via Getty Images

“I think some roles were shown in a rather distorted way. I don’t want to get into that topic, but releasing it on the anniversary of [Marco] Simoncelli’s death was also a bit particular,” added the Turin-born rider, visibly upset about how the footage was used after he had refused to take part in the filming.

“I remember being asked about it earlier this year, and I already said it wasn’t appropriate to talk about. They even included Dovizioso, who said he doesn’t remember anything. And I didn’t understand why they showed me either,” Bagnaia concluded.