Valentino Rossi on Near Death Experience in Austria

One of the great riders to take to MotoGP racing, Valentino Rossi has stated that the near miss at the MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix was terrifying and could have led to disaster. Rossie also is firm in his believe that rider aggression should never be “exaggerated”. Rossi was exceptionally lucky to have avoided the Petronas Yamaha of Franco Morbidelli on lap nine during the Red Bull Ring race after it came into contact at turn 2 with Johann Zarco. It set the stage for a terrifying accident that saw the Avintia Ducati of Zarco flying across the tact in the third turn where it eventually went airborne and hit a fence. Morbidelli, Rossi and Maverick Vinales were in the middle of it, but Morbidelli was able to put himself between the two to avoid what could have been a devastating collision.

Both Rossi and Morbidelli joined the restart, and while Rossi put the incident behind him and managed a fifth place finish but when questioned about the on-track incident, Rossie stated: “It was so scary, was terrifying. For me, now everybody is aggressive but also from the small classes. I can understand because you play a lot. But for me it’s important that we don’t exaggerate [the aggression]. What I said is that also from the small classes, you have a lot of riders who close the door when braking.”

Rossie added that riders take a lot of risks before stating: “This could have been a potential disaster. I spoke to Zarco, I said this to him, and he said he didn’t do it purposely. But anyway, aggressive is good, but braking in the face of other riders, especially at 300km/h is a potential disaster.”
The Red Bull Ring circuit has come under fire for safety issues afar the incident, and while Rossi is of the mindset that the circuit is dangerous, he also feels it is in part due to the lack of respect riders give to each other that is more dangerous.

While speaking on the ring circuit, Rossie stated: “I think the Red Bull Ring is a bit dangerous in some places, especially when you have a hard braking from 300km/h to 50km/h, and in the hairpin at Turn3 you have to go in the opposite direction, This is a potentially dangerous place, but I think more is the ack of respect between the riders. This is more dangerous than the track I think.”