2021 Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya

Keshav said:

That was as you know, an incredibly rare instance of extreme trauma. And need it be said, the chest protector and a few millimeters of leather - didn’t in the end, make any difference. That was a perfect storm of bad luck. My point all along tho, has been riding with the zipper open didn’t endanger anyone other than Fabio. I understand perfectly the need to have and enforce sensible safety precautions, but as he never really endangered anyone other than himself, the punishment did not fit the crime. My gut feeling is, if not for the fear of some kind of “Mothers Against Racing” boycott backlash, they’d never have hit him with such an over the top penalty.

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I don’t have a strong opinion about the zipper thing, but for me the issue is whether FQ was careless about safety equipment or didn’t use safety equipment correctly. It is like whatever lights you are supposed to have on the bike or whatever as someone said.

It seems fairly clear now it wasn’t a faulty safety bag, if it was he could only make the best of things as you say, as another rider recently did without controversy. If he didn’t fasten his zipper correctly then it probably wouldn’t have been unreasonable to tell him to stop to do so. There probably wasn’t enough time for either him or RD to make a considered decision about something nigh unprecedented in the heat of the moment with 2 or 3 laps to go as has also been said.

I agree RD probably responded to post race pressure rather than acting from any strong principle, and that they give every appearance of blowing with the wind. I don’t see much motive from Mir, or Suzuki and Ducati who apparently protested post race, other than to gain some points in the contest with the rider leading the title race either

Keshav said:

To be sure, nobody said riders “never” fall on their chest. But it is statistically rare. Watched the video and there were like two instances out of many. And BTW - those are not especially recent. Certainly not from one season. Those clips are culled from multiple seasons going back to when Stoner was still racing, which is how many years ago?

In the event, glad to see you drop by.

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So the physics of falling from a motorcycle have changed since Stoners time?

Macca said:

I've not posted for a while, but this seemed as good a time as any to jump back in the horse.

Alpinestars have confirmed that Fabs suit/zippers were in perfect working order upon there initial investigation post race.

They have also confirmed that the airbag did not deploy.

From their Twitter account:

01) Following Sunday’s MotoGP race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the Alpinestars’ Racing Development team commenced an investigation into the integrity of Fabio Quartararo’s racing suit. Upon initial analysis post-race in the Alpinestars Racing Development truck... https://t.co/7lbBx2kq5r

02) located in the MotoGP paddock, the team found the suit to be in normal working order with all zippers and fasteners fully functioning. Furthermore, all the suit’s componentry, including the Tech-Air® Airbag System, was intact and fully functioning.

03) This is only a first assessment, to be further investigated once the suit is in the Alpinestars laboratory at Alpinestars headquarters, conducting all testing and analysis to understand more about the cause of what happened.

04) The Tech-Air® Airbag System did not deploy during the race, it functioned as expected, as there was not a crash situation.

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Unless they openly say the zipper malfunctioned, which they would if they found it did it's pretty Obvious Fabio's zipper was probably slightly open from him either not closing it well by mistake or by choice.

Had he not walked around with it open in so many occasions i may have given him the benefit of the doubt but....

michaelm said:

I don’t have a strong opinion about the zipper thing, but for me the issue is whether FQ was careless about safety equipment or didn’t use safety equipment correctly. It is like whatever lights you are supposed to have on the bike or whatever as someone said.

It seems fairly clear now it wasn’t a faulty safety bag, if it was he could only make the best of things as you say, as another rider recently did without controversy. If he didn’t fasten his zipper correctly then it probably wouldn’t have been unreasonable to tell him to stop to do so. There probably wasn’t enough time for either him or RD to make a considered decision about something nigh unprecedented in the heat of the moment with 2 or 3 laps to go as has also been said.

I agree RD probably responded to post race pressure rather than acting from any strong principle, and that they give every appearance of blowing with the wind. I don’t see much motive from Mir, or Suzuki and Ducati who apparently protested post race, other than to gain some points in the contest with the rider leading the title race either

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Stoner said the following on Twitter about the zipper...

Casey Stoner
@Official_CS27
Jun 6
Whether or not it was @FabioQ20 taking his zipper down on purpose, I believe that should have been a black flag. At this level you can’t be allowed to race at 350km + with your leathers open.

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He's right y'know.

Mick D said:

Why are you conflating 2 separate things?

NO ONE is debating what would have happened if FQ went down.

And of course he can be right about one thing and wrong about the other thing. But the point is that he BELIEVES he is right on both accounts (or lying). Why would you trust his analysis and/or judgement on matters concerning himself?

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He did walk back his initial reaction to being penalized for the open leathers. My point is simply that he at least recognizes you cannot be out there at race speeds with your leathers unzipped all the way.

Who is JM?

Jack Miller
Joan Mir
Jorge Martin

Also confusing is the abbreviated rider's name MAR

They should use a different scheme for it

You say riders rarely land on their chest, is it more rare than having zippers fail?

Alpine Stars conspiracy? Or a dumb kid forgetting to lock it up...

Zipper gate?

Keshav said:

While I have a great respect in general for the medical profession, I tend to buck the trend, that tendency to ascribe god-like powers of infallibility that many physicians like to promote themselves as having. Having been wrongly diagnosed several times in the last 20 years, twice with near disastrous results, I’m bullish on second opinions. I wouldn’t second guess Misfit as regards healing of bones etc, but having decades of first-hand experience with bikes and what happens when you fall, I trust my own instincts on these things. I’ve been down multiple times, broken over the years both collarbones, chipped both rotator cups, broken toes, suffered wrist fractures, broke my hip, torn meniscus, shoulder broken in 5 places, three fractured vertebrae, a concussion or two - and yet, the front of those leathers, which I retired in ‘88, look as new as the day that Patty Peron sewed them up for me. Not a scratch on the chest.

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I agree with you and this is exactly why I disclosed my connection with the profession with reluctance. I don't at all wish to put my medical opinion across as gospel or not to be challenged. A lot of these injury related issues are a marriage of human physiology (a lot of which is already pretty common knowledge) with a big element straightforward mechanics and common sense. Furthermore, if I tapped on my professional knowledge to come up with my opinion on FQ, I'm not aware of it.

In the same vein, listing your personal experiences (anecdote) carries little sway regarding my own opinion on the issue. It goes both ways.

Mrpurple said:

So the physics of falling from a motorcycle have changed since Stoners time?

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I took the bit in bold as the pertinent part in the context of that reply :?

Keshav said:

To be sure, nobody said riders “never” fall on their chest. But it is statistically rare. Watched the video and there were like two instances out of many. And BTW - those are not especially recent. Certainly not from one season. Those clips are culled from multiple seasons going back to when Stoner was still racing, which is how many years ago?

In the event, glad to see you drop by.

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ApriliaRS250 said:

Who is JM?

Jack Miller
Joan Mir
Jorge Martin

Also confusing is the abbreviated rider's name MAR

They should use a different scheme for it

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Sure. good point. Miller has been out there for a while referred to as JM though.

Misfit,
I saw that Marquez was able to do 87 laps during the test this week. Does that mean anything in the context of his arm/shoulder? Or without knowing at what level he was pushing to is it hard to tell? It was pretty recently he was saying he doesn't have the strength to do what he wants to do.

Keshav said:

Read the previous post, or better yet, turn on your TV and look at Fabio on the grid just before the warm-up lap. If you trust your eyes, then hopefully you’ll be able to live with the facts as they are. Just watch it and see for yourself.

Re: Fabio being a dumb kid, I don’t follow the careers of dumb kids. I’m watching star athletes competing in the absolute pinnacle of two-wheel racing. He’s the same age as Spencer, Schwantz, Sheene, Mamola et al, were when they were at the top of their game. I’d love to see someone call Rainey or Lawson or Roberts a “dumb kid” to their face.

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Nevertheless whether or not you are a fan of his the possibility exists that he is responsible for the zipper coming undone one way or another, and this is rather more likely imo than the zipper coming undone spontaneously but working normally post race. That he didn't fasten it properly is one explanation, I would have thought the most charitable one, the other is that he undid it. I read somewhere that he is in the habit of inserting the chest shield late, maybe he didn't insert it properly and it became uncomfortable. If you can discern that the velcro strap is fastened on the grid the whole world can see that he likes to wear his leathers unzipped off track btw, and maybe he just finds zipped up leathers irritating or uncomfortable in general rather than preferring to be unzipped for reasons of fashion. That a faulty airbag deployed is the explanation that best suits your narrative, particularly since it has happened before to another rider, but no-one except French race commentators live during the race have said this to my knowledge. A conspiracy involving Alpinestars is far more unlikely than FQ's hand being responsible for the equipment malfunction, again imo. Why would RD not be aware of an airbag malfunction ?; unlike FQ and/or Yamaha they are not sponsored by Alpinestars, and on the previous occasion there was an inappropriate airbag deployment this was both obvious and acknowledged, and was not penalised.

As previously I am in agreement with your contention that post race pressure, probably partly from social media etc, but definitely from Mir who was vocal in post race interviews, and apparently from other teams given FQ 'thanked' them post race, influenced RD and that RD should be free, fair and consistent rather than arbitrary in their decision making.

I am with Warthog in general, I am happy he didn't get black flagged, I don't want to see the title decided by such an incident, but I also don't want to see it happen again and I am sure FQ and the rest of the field are on notice that unzipped leathers breach the safety regulations and are not acceptable going forward. Sure if you are FQ with no precedent you are going to keep battling for the podium on the last 3 laps rather than stopping to zip up though.