By Steve Parrish

BBC MotoGP commentator

Marco Simoncelli's clash with Dani Pedrosa was the big talking point of the day from Le Mans, and I have to say I thought the punishment was harsh. Simoncelli received a drive-through penalty, which means you can't revoke it. I think the incident should have been looked at a bit more and if, afterwards, it's deemed to be fully his fault, maybe there could have been a time penalty - but a lot of other riders made similar mistakes and weren't penalised in the same way. What happened was a genuine racing incident - Simoncelli was in the wrong, he was behind Pedrosa going into the corner and it's not often you can ride round someone on the outside. He tipped the bike in at the apex and left Dani with not much room. I think maybe Dani could have taken more avoiding action so there was no accident, but he didn't want to concede the corner and they both looked at the same piece of track. Race direction would have said it was mainly Simoncelli's fault. I agree but I'd have liked to look at it a great deal more, rather than just give him a penalty, which ruined his chances of doing anything in the race. Simoncelli's a lot bigger than a lot of the riders, which makes it harder for him. Just beforehand, he got past Pedrosa, who then passed him on the straight - the second fastest part of the track. That would have got to Simoncelli because the overtake was down to Pedrosa's size, not his skill. It was rotten luck for Pedrosa as he got yet another injury. We've seen some other riders have some fairly big crashes this weekend. They just walked away but when it happens to Pedrosa, he breaks his collarbone. You can't categorically say the same injury wouldn't have happened to Casey Stoner or Valentino Rossi in the same circumstances, but it always seems to happen to Pedrosa - he's fragile. When you get older, you start to feel it's time to stop because you can't carry on; mentally you've been beaten up by having too many crashes. It's early for that to happen to Pedrosa but psychologically it takes its toll - you're so busy nursing injuries that you're penalised before you get on the bike. Pedrosa's got some time to recover before the next race in Catalunya. I wonder if he'll have a plate put in his collarbone - the last time he did that, it caused more trouble than it was worth. Meanwhile, world champion Jorge Lorenzo seemed to have all kinds of problems. The Yamaha didn't work properly, but Rossi's surprise podium placing will really motivate the whole Ducati team. Rossi's still not really there yet - he only ended up where he did because of Simoncelli getting his penalty, otherwise Pedrosa and Simoncelli would have finished ahead of him - but Ducati will be happy. And as for race winner Stoner, he did exactly what I expected - he showed all his skill and talent, he's on the fastest bike and he had a faultless race. He didn't rush into things at the start, and produced a mature performance. And Pedrosa's misfortune will have been a bit of good luck for him too, because he'll have looked at Pedrosa as one of his big title threats. Steve Parrish was speaking to BBC Sport's Julian Shea.



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