Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) slid out right after Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) in qualifying at the Tissot GP of Czechia. Normally, crashing under yellow flags – which were indeed shown straight after Zarco’s crash – is a penalty. But riders need time to see and react to the signals.

The incident was near the end of Q2, just as most of the field were on their final flying laps. Zarco slides out when he has two riders closest behind him: Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) right on his tail and Marc Marquez a few meters further back. You can watch the CCTV footage of it below.

The time between Zarco crashing and Marc Marquez crashing is less than a second – 0.8 seconds to be exact – and the #93 has already passed the panel that has now activated to indicate there is a yellow flag. Whether a rider is able to see a yellow flag or panel and then have time to react is always key to whether they are penalised.

For the same reason, Mir keeps his lap – seeing a yellow flag and slowing up was impossible given how close behind the #36 was when Zarco went down.

That leaves Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) on pole ahead of Marc Marquez and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), Mir fifth, and Zarco ninth on the grid at Brno.