To kill roots of a tree

Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia posted a record-smashing lap time to initially claim pole in Saturday’s Q2 session at the Algarve circuit. However, his pole time was stripped from him after he was deemed to have set it while travelling through a yellow flag zone at the Craig Jones corner where KTM’s Miguel Oliveira had crashed. Bagnaia was dropped from pole to 11th as a result and claims it was “impossible” to see the yellow flag to his right as he was leaning to the left at that point. MotoGP tightened up its yellow flag rule last season, with any lap set by a rider who has passed a caution automatically having that time deleted. Espargaro sympathised with Bagnaia, but feels the rule has to be enforced because “you can kill a marshal” if you crash while pushing through a yellow flag zone. “You cannot go in the brain or the eyes of Pecco, so I will trust him if he says he couldn’t see it,” Espargaro said. “But we have rules for safety. [On Friday] I crashed in … [Read more...] about MotoGP yellow flag penalty should be harsher – Espargaro

Russell and Bottas crashed out while battling for ninth place halfway through Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, colliding at high-speed on the approach to Turn 2. Russell gained on Bottas using DRS and moved to the right-hand side of the track to try and overtake, only for Bottas to make a slight move to the right. It caused Russell to lose control of his car and spear into Bottas's Mercedes, leaving both cars out of the race and causing a red flag. Both drivers were left fuming by the incident. Russell tapped Bottas's helmet when he went to his cockpit to vent his anger, later saying that he asked the Finn "if he was trying to kill us both." Bottas responded by showing his middle finger. Read Also: Bottas: Imola F1 crash with Russell "clearly his mistake" Emilia Romagna GP: Verstappen wins, Hamilton recovers to second Bottas claimed after the incident that it was "clearly" Russell's mistake and that he left enough room, but Russell felt Bottas had … [Read more...] about Russell: Bottas may not have made same move on another driver