Arrabi, again, fire up your big inch screen, roll the tape.
Physical evidence from the video: Repeat the event and keep your eye on Pedrosa, re-watch several times, and do the same for Barbera, and a few times for DePuniet, but most importantly, watch Dani. Watch him desperately dangle his left foot to get himself stopped. Why? Well, the trajectory tells the story of this incident. He comes in too hot trying to get ahead of Barbera. Compare Barbera's line to Pedro. Pedro is far too inside, is forced to slow down to negotiate that turn (physics is a MF), while Barbera is aiming for the correct line to make that apex, see DePuneit as a reference, also a bit wide and correctly allowing Barbera the line. Why is Pedro so far inside? Because of a desperate lung to get passed Barbera! This is what set the series of events in motion, NOT Barbera. Then what happens? Predro 'crosses' the line of Barbera, that is, he starts from Barbera's inside and ends up on Barbera's outside. Why? Because he overcooked it and must now get his bike slowed, as his dangling leg desperately tries to act as a sail (again, physics). Now, inch forward on your slow motion button, watch Pedro's further attempt to tip in to force his bike to stay within that corner and not continue his trajectory of running wide, this, causing Barbera to stand it up. That is, Pedro disrupted Barbera's trajectory, which unfortunately made Hector have to take evasive action, and causing him to make contact with Pedro's rear wheel (a differential of speed and trajectory). Now that is what physically happened in that incident, and if you watch the video, you will see exactly what I describe.
Now lets talk about Pedro's state of mind: Racing is mostly between the ears still, right? Sitting on pole, there is a strange and unlikely glitch on the start of the race, where the amber lights flash due to some issue with Abraham. What happens next? Pedro's front tire warmer is stuck in the fender. They can't get it off, as the desperate seconds tick away, they pull his pole setting bike off the grid and into the hot pit. The heart rate must have started to head to the top of all 4 feet of his body, and circulating inside the casing of his helmet. Confusion continues to ensue, and the commentators start to wonder if he will be forced to start from the pit lane. They wheel Pedro's bike back onto the grid, while Crutchlow makes his feelings known that this is ........, and perhaps the race should commence without the pole setter (he must have been licking his chops). Pedro scurries along side his seemingly too big of a machine for the dumbinitive Spaniard, absent the stepping ladder he normally uses to get on the saddle. The stare he got from Lorenzo must have been burning up the side of his face inside his helmet to add to Cal's outward expression of disgust. Then what happens, was he free and clear? No. What started off as darts to his state of mind now continue as full artillery fire upon his focus and concentration? He flays desperately to get the attention of his pit, as he points to the bike, the world gets the message, 'There is something very wrong with his machine!' But what? Perhaps the brakes? Perhaps some electronic glitch, what must have been racing through Pedro’s mind, perhaps the flip he made on a fateful practice start? If racing is 90 percent in the head, well Pedro is being shell shocked with 16inch cannon at about precisely this moment. But the artillery continues for what must have been a frenzy of synapses in his little helmet all along the warm up lap. Not being able to keep up with the pace car, then he is stopped as he attempts to access his rightful pole position on the grid, only to be blocked by an official putting a bright flag in his face. By this time, surely he is starting to wonder if the universe has conspired against him, perhaps visions of all the .... talking he has ever done in his life, like 'Earl', perhaps contemplating a list of apologies for all the wrongs he’s done, but first, the start beckons and the best chance at a MotoGP title in his entire sheltered career in just milliseconds away. The lights go out, and perhaps so did his brain, which had been accustom to seeing clear track regardless of his qualifying position, was now faced with very unfamiliar territory. "What are those strange looking machines ahead of me…" Surely may have been the thought of his unconscious mind, as consciously, Pedro was relying on his launch control do get past a few riders. At this point the synapses must have been as hot as the nucleus of an atomic bomb, full throttle ahead, the light now out, and most likely his brain shut off as a defense mechanism for eminent nuclear melt-down, unfortunately all the TC in the world still had to succumb to physics, as he lunged forward ahead of Barbera, and the rest was a series of events that were both initiated by a shell-shocked state of mind, and the human factor of error, that and ....... physics.
Not only did Pedro ruin Barbera's race, and also DePuniet’s, but unfortunately his own as well. Many might rush to have a sympathetic kneejerk reaction to the unfortunate series of events for ‘poor’ Pedro. Considering that the championship points picture was a fever pitch. And while feeling sorry for the guy may jump to the conclusion that the crash was not his fault, being that the other guy involved is a bit of a pariah among the un-enlightened. But as I said, if we are to take the entire incident in context, the reality of the contact both physically and circumstance of Pedro’s state of mind that led him to make a mistake, should lead you to a very different conclusion. Notwithstanding, there are 5 races to go, and I’d say Karma dealt him a little nudge, but certainly was still very kind to him, as he now has several races to recover.
