Updated and Written by Owen Bradley
Credit: Steve Wobser
Bagnaia has suffered multiple contusions, which are (put simply) Bruises to the body, which for his case - are in the legs and lower body. It has been confirmed, Bagnaia will travel back home with Team Ducati this evening, which indicates that he is in a stable and calm condition.
Reigning MotoGP World Champion, Francesco Bagnaia, had a serious crash today at the Spanish Grand Prix in Catalunya on the opening lap, when he was struck in the lower regions of his body, by another bike after crashing due to a major highside.
The start of the Catalan Grand Prix was an absolutely chaotic one, with Enea Bastianini accidentally causing a chain-reaction crash, taking out a load of riders including Marco Bezzecchi and Johann Zarco.
However heading into Turn 3, Bagnaia had a major highside and was flung from his bike in almost supernatural fashion, and came crashing down on the asphalt, very hard. He was then struck by the KTM of Brad Binder, which looked like an absolutely horrific incident, as Bagnaia struggled to get to his feet, leading many to suspect that his legs might have been badly injured during the crash.
MotoGP’s medical director did say that Bagnaia “has suffered severe polytrauma” which means that he has multiple injuries, although it was later confirmed by Ducati, that Bagnaia would be able to travel back home in the same evening, therefore it seems as though Bagnaia is in a decent and stable condition.
Credit: Diogo Cardoso
With Bagnaia seemingly on a road to recovery, no matter how minor the injuries are, this might give the other riders some hope that the championship may still be on.
Bagnaia himself overturned a 91-point deficit to Fabio Quartararo back in 2022, and so it has been proved possible that riders can overturn major deficits. The riders that fans will be keeping their eyes on, will be Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin, and VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi who sit 50 points away from Bagnaia for Martin, and 71 points away from Bagnaia for Bezzecchi.
As Aleix Espargaro won the Spanish Grand Prix with teammate Maverick Vinales in P2 for Aprilia, he dedicated the race victory to Bagnaia, and shows just how much the Aprilia team have improved, especially over the last few races.
Bagnaia was run over in the femoral and tibial areas, which are essentially in the lower half of your body, from around the thigh area, and all the way down the leg and knees. This was a serious accident and one which the entire MotoGP community has commended, as the safety standards have improved so much, because this could have been something far worse, especially as we still continue to see riders have serious accidents, some even heartbreakingly fatal in recent years, in Moto2 and Moto3.
It is remarkable to see how far MotoGP's safety standards have come, and perhaps a crash like today, reminds racing drivers and riders, just how lucky we truly are to be in an era where Safety is paramount.
He was such a lucky boy, going down in front of the whole field. Poor Binder really had no chance, impressed with him and how he handled everything post race. I was delighted with the Espagaro win, but I think like him not in these circumstances. Fingers crossed Bagnaia is back to form quickly. Then hopefully Aleix can repeat the win many more times this year with the champ on track to make it a correct fight ! It was a horrible incident, relieved with his reasonably light injuries considering.