Angry Aleix Espargaro: Franco Morbidelli “crossed a sacred line” by mentioning my family

Espargaro was hit with a €10,000 fine and a six-place grid penal💛ty for slapping Morbidelli’s helmet on Saturday in Qatar.
Morbidelli accused Espargaro of “disrespect” then said “I wonder what he will 😼say to his kids”.
Espargaro raged to : “What really bothered me a lot is that, in his statements, ﷽he included my family and my children.
“There he crossed a very sacred line for me.”
The Aprilia rider injured an ankle✅ in Saturday’s sprint race and ended a nightmare day with his leg in plaster.
He battled through the first few laps of the Qatar MotoGP, serving his grid penalty, before retiring early then reop🔯ening the debate over slapping Morbidelli.
Having apologised on social media, but also claiming the punishm꧒ent was too harsh, Espargaro said:ꦜ “No, no, my version does not change.
“Obviou𒅌sly, I was wrong, my exit was absolutely disastr🎃ous.
“I can꧅ give you my word that I never 👍wanted to hit him in the helmet, I wanted to push him away.
“If you only see the final part,𒊎 I deserve that sanction💝, I'm not going to argue with it, it's very ugly.
“And I already know that I'm going to eat a lot of hate now, because wh🍬at I did is very ugly, I admit it.
“B🌟ut it's a bit unfair because Franco has been walking around the circuits for a year and a half, each race bothers one o🉐r the other.
“I almo🌸st fell twice because he was walking, and when I tried to enter again he acted like a bully, not lettingꦐ me enter.
“And I lost my nerve there.
“Last week he calle꧋d Marc like a dog with his𒁏 hand...
“Yes, I was very wrong wi💃th my reaction, I feel very bad for myself, for my team, for my family, but it's not worth it, I think, to just look at the last part.”

Espargaro wrote on social media: “Obviously I'm still embarrassed by my behaviour, so I acknowledg𒉰e my guilt and accept the punishment.&nb𒈔sp;
“Despite losing reason reacting like this, I think it is unfair that I was judged on꧅ly for the last 5 seconds, he was walking on the track, blocked me on three turns, I almost fell, and after all did not let me enter the track.
“Every ౠGP hinders one or the other and at the end with the tension it's hard to manage reactions.
“But worst o💜f all, in his statements he put my family in𒆙 the middle...
“To me, he deserves zero respect.
“I rep🐠eat, once again I APOLOGIZE and accept the consequences, but I wanted to give my point of view and put everything into context because I think i💜t's not fair that I'm the only one to blame.”
The injury to Espargaro’s 🐈ankle could threaten his participation in next weekend’s season-finale in Valencia and the postseason test.

James was a sports journalist at Sky Sports for a decade covering everything from American sports, to football, 𓆏to F1.