As Motorsport.com Italia reports, the Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika turned into a farce over the weekend thanks to MotoGP's much-maligned tyre pressure regulations, leaving riders swapping positions on purpose and creating thoroughly artificial racing. Pedro Acosta simply refused to sugarcoat it.
Starting down in ninth on the grid, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider put on a stellar early charge. By lap seven, the 22-year-old made short work of the factory Ducati machine belonging to Marc Marquez, breezing past easily into fourth place with brilliant pace.
We look like donkeys! I think Márquez had the same problems as me, because he let me pass too,
Then the Michelin front tyre rules kicked in. Once the pressure in Acosta's front rubber climbed past the legal threshold, he had no choice but to hand the position back to his Ducati rival while staying tucked in his slipstream. For the next 10 to 12 laps, the pair played a bizarre game of musical chairs, swapping fifth place back and forth in a spectacle that looked entirely ridiculous to anyone watching.
The madness didn't stop with them, either. Ai Ogura eventually reeled them both in late in the race, with the Trackhouse rider pushing past the struggling duo.
This mess followed hot on the heels of the Sprint race, where Jorge Martin was forced to surrender the lead for the exact same rule infringement, marking two consecutive days where tyre parameters completely dictated the front-running action. Acosta made his feelings crystal clear, arguing that the minimum pressure requirement should only apply at the start of a race.
"We look like donkeys! I think Márquez had the same problems as me, because he let me pass too," Acosta said. He pointed out the impossibility of planning for the unpredictable chaos of following other bikes, noting how his race devolved into an absurd loop of overtaking and letting Marquez back past until Ogura caught up to them.
Márquez acknowledged he also wrestled with tyre pressure issues, though he maintained it wasn't the deciding factor in losing ground to Acosta. Meanwhile, Maverick Viñales suffered a 16-second penalty for breaching the minimum pressure requirement, though the punishment proved entirely academic as he was already lingering in 17th and last among the classified finishers.
