🚨 BOLD MOVE: Valentino Rossi Recalls The ‘Fear’ From The 2020 Austrian GP Crash, Judged Marc Marquez For Contributed To Ending His Career

Valentino Rossi ended his MotoGP career after 2021, but one year earlier, he experienced one of the biggest scares of his career at the Austrian GP. Franco Morbidelli crashed on the way to Turn 3 at Spielberg, and his uncontrolled bike narrowly missed Il Dottore, avoiding a potentially catastrophic accident.

Rossi reflected on the moment during the MigBabol podcast: ‘Austria was an important race that season, because in recent years, as you get older, I’ve always tried not to be reckless – you’re racing a MotoGP bike, after all, but… not crazy, let’s say. To be honest, I’ve always been that way, even when I was younger. I never liked crashing or getting hurt’.

Speaking about the incident at the Red Bull Ring, the Italian commented: ‘In Austria, we were having a good race. I was with [Maverick] Viñales, and we reached Turn 3 when chaos broke out behind us because [Johann] Zarco and Franco collided. And there, you’re going at around 300 km/h, and the braking is tricky. With MotoGP, if you brake while slightly leaned over, the bike feels like it’s on the edge, almost touching the ground. Then you have a turn where you’re going at 50km/h. I was behind Viñales, maybe in fourth or fifth, and I remember braking and starting to turn the bike when I saw a shadow pass by – something you don’t normally see – and I honestly thought it was the helicopter. A moment later, I saw Zarco’s bike flying over Viñales, and I thought, «Oh, damn». Viñales let go of the handlebars and instinctively covered his head. I saw him really shaken. I returned to the pits with my hands on my head’.

Over three years later, Rossi still has vivid memories of the incident: ‘My real risk was Morbidelli’s bike, which I didn’t even see. I sat down and thought Viñales was lucky; the bike flew over him. I saw people looking really pale. They asked me about Franco’s bike, and I told them I honestly hadn’t seen it. It happened so fast; it was just a moment. When I watched the footage, I thought, «Wow»’.

The ten-time world champion admitted that the 2020 Austria incident played a role in his decision to retire a year later: ‘It would have been a disaster. When I saw it again, I got scared. I was paralyzed when it was time to restart the race after the red flag. Uccio [Salucci] put my helmet and gloves on me and said, «Let’s go, let’s go». But I realized that even if you’re careful in MotoGP, if you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time… Between that and not being as competitive anymore, I made the decision’.