VR46 MotoGP rider Franco Morbidelli has doubled down on his criticism of Honda’s Aleix Espargaro following their tangle at the British Grand Pꦅrix, saying “I could have been worse”.

The pair collided on the opening lap of the British GP at the Vale chicane, when HRC wildcard 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Aleix Espargaro crashed and took 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Franco Morbidelli with him.

No stewards action was take💎n on the in🍰cident, though both had strong opposing views after the Silverstone race.

Morbidelli - who suffered a foot fracture in t🅷he clash - said Espargaro has “always had something extra for me”, eluding to a number of incidents the pair have had ov🧸er the years.

Asked on Thursday ahead of the Aragon Grand Prix if h💧e felt his comments were harsh and if his opinion had changed, Morb🐽idelli doubled down.

“I’m sorry to hear that I was harsh because I could have been much, much worse,” Morbidelli, who was able t🌞o take the restart at Silverstone following a red flag and narrowly miss the podiuﷺm, said.

“I wasn’t harsh. Under that point of view, I don’t chang♚e my though꧟t an inch.

“I believe that what I had to experience on Sunday was not fair at all and was not the behaviour that a test rider should have aga🎀inst another rider competing for important positions in the championship - even though it was a mistake.

“Th𒆙ere’s no doubt about that: Aleix Espargaro made a m🦂istake on Sunday. But because that mistake means many things.

“That mistake that a test rid𒅌er is not collecting data 💜for his factory.

“It means he is racing against other riders in a way that makes him do mistakes while he’s doing what he’s supposed to do, which is just bring the package home ꩲand collect data, even more if you have the weekend that he had.

“So, ꦿclearly off the pace by two, two and a half seconds in every session, and then in the race you crash in the first lap.

“That’s not an index of doing yoဣur work properly𒉰. I had to pay for that with a fracture on my foot and that’s frustrating.

“I could have bee꧑n much harsher after this episode.

“Instead I just said for sure he has෴ something with me because of the fact he’s not able to do his job to the end, just to race in a way that a test rider is not supposed to race.

“I added that because of our history. That’s no secret, we had episodes, so I thought ‘what’s the thꦫing that made Aleix Espargaro come out of his working programme during a race where he wasn’t clearly racing with anyone else because he was two and half seconds slower’.

“Maybe it was me who found myself in that point of the race where I wasn’t supposed to but I had a bad start and I was there. So, that’s what happened and that’s what I🌸 said after the race.

“But that w𓂃as the episode that gave me the red flag and be🗹 able to pick up the bike again.

“I don’t know if I would have𒅌 been able to make the race that I did without that because I was 18th at that moment. So, this is a thing that alleviates the frustration𝔉. But what I think is exactly the same.”

Espargaro apologised for his part in the incident, though hit back at Morbidelli’s crit🥃icism in the aftermath.