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Miller: "Rude" Espargaro said I deserved Jerez crash
Pramac Ducati MotoGP rider Jack Miller has revealed that Aleix Espargaro confronted him after the duo's collision in the Spanish Grand Prix, saying the Spaniard told him that he deserved to crash.
David Gruz
Published: May 16, 2019, 2:53 PM
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Aprilia rider Espargaro and Miller were fighting for 10th place with only three laps remaining of the race when the former made a move at the final turn.
Miller wanted to instantly retake the position, trying to sneak past Espargaro on the exit of the corner, but they ended up colliding, resulting in the Ducati rider crashing out.
After the race, Espargaro, who finished the race 11th, said that he was "very angry" with Miller's move, feeling it cost him a chance of fighting for ninth.
While Miller said his comments did not anger him, he revealed that the two argued on a plane leaving Jerez, with Espargaro expecting an apology and saying that Miller "deserved to crash".
"Doesn't bother me how he felt about it, he was also extremely rude on the plane flying home, saying things like I deserved to crash," said Miller.
"It is unnecessary, he said I needed to come and apologise to him, I said it was a racing incident.
"He said he was on the inside. He wasn't, when you look back at the pictures, he ran wide and all I did was try to follow my line around and I'm gonna go for a gap, I'm a racer."
"Finally I crashed, he was expecting an apology. An apology for what?
"I did not really feel that necessary, when I said that to him that I was the one who crashed, he said to me quite clearly, you deserved to crash.
"That is the way he feels, it is great to see we have a good sportsman like that in the paddock."
Espargaro revealed that the incident with Miller cut his tyre and he was lucky to be able to finish the race, and that he expected the Australian to apologise afterwards.
"There was no space, I saw it now many times," said Espargaro. "He cut my tyre with the down winglet and I was very lucky that the tyre did not explode.
"When Michelin saw it, they came by the garage and they didn't understand how I finish the race with the cut.
"I was very angry, as I have good relationship with him, I was expecting that he can, not after the race, but two hours later or on Monday, say 'hey mate sorry, I thought [there] was space'.
"He didn't do anything and when I saw him on the plane I say, 'what happened mate?' [He said] 'what happened? I crashed,' and I say, 'yeah, there was no space, you crash, but because you deserved to crash.'
He added that Miller deserved a penalty and he would have received one if Espargaro ended up falling or getting injured in the clash.
"What makes me super-angry is that the penalty, it has to be for the action, not for the consequence.
"If I crash and I broke my collarbone, Jack has a big penalty, I am fully confident on this. I did not crash because I was super-lucky and he crashed. No penalty.
"But the action was exactly the same. For me, was more than race incident, at least a warning. For me was super-aggressive, more than a normal overtake."
Additional reporting by Guillaume Navarro and Lena Buffa
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