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At the end of the Moto2 race, something occurred, which was filmed by the cameras, and that provoked a reaction in the Mugello paddock. At the parc fermé, after winning the Mugello race, Pedro Acosta swapped his helmets: he gave the technician of the supplier company the helmet he had used in the race and handed a different one. Why? That’s the question that many have asked themselves.
Due to this, several Moto2 teams (including Marc VDS and SpeedUp) filed an official complaint with the Stewards. A more than understandable action, in order to dispel any suspicion. But, unfortunately, the response from the commissioners did not do so.
Let’s start from the beginning. Why would a rider swap helmets? In the Moto2, the minimum weight is reached by bike plus rider, logically, with technical clothing on. This is measured after the race. The negative limit that cannot be exceeded is 217 Kg. Given his build, Acosta is at the limit of this weight. How much of a difference can the weight of the helmet make? We asked some experts about it, and they told us that it could even reach one kilogram.
Nobody claims that Pedro won the GP in Italy because of, more or less, one kilo (he reached the finish line with an advantage of more than 6 seconds on Arbolino). But, there are rules in the World Championship, and they must be respected and enforced in absolute transparency.
However, the regulations do not envisage that helmets be swapped in a parc fermé. Furthermore, when asked about the incident, the Ajo team explained that the technician who handles Acosta's helmets was acting in good faith and that he had given the Spanish rider a different helmet because he wanted to have a clean one in the photos, since the race one was dirty.
The Stewards accepted the explanation and rejected the complaint, but they then requested that Acosta be weighed again an hour later.
And that’s how everything ended. However, once again, this incident casts a shadow over the Stewards and the way they acted. No one questions the good faith of the Ajo team, Acosta, and his staff (also because the helmets were swapped in front of the cameras), but all this sets a precedent. If Pedro was able to swap his helmet at the parc fermé, why can’t everyone do the same from now on? And maybe even circumventing the rules? The question is obviously rhetorical and the answer is blatant.
This isn’t the first time we’ve talked about how ‘justice‘ is handled in the paddock, and the answer given is that the laws aren’t equal for everyone, such as the decision to not punish Lopez for having made Lowes fall, for example. Yet, it’s not the first time that double standards have been used.
The teams that presented the complaint were dismissed without their doubts being dispelled … and that’s the problem with this incident. Rules exist in every sport. For the competition to be fair, everyone must be sure that everyone else respects them. Instead, sometimes, things seem not to work out properly.
No one wants to go to the extremes where a rider is banned from throwing gloves or boots at fans during celebrations, but every gray area needs to be resolved, instead of continuing to remain in an area that fuels perplexities.
