Marco Simoncelli is adamant that he was only penalised for his clash with Dani Pedrosa at Le Mans because of the criticism he has received from other riders for his overtaking style in recent weeks.
Simoncelli has had a lot of flack from his rivals over his track manners, with several riders complaining to the MotoGP officials about his style at the start of this weekend. In today's French Grand Prix, Simoncelli made contact with Pedrosa as he tried to complete a pass around the outside, resulting in the works Honda crashing and Pedrosa sustaining a broken collarbone.
Race direction gave Simoncelli a ride-through penalty for his part in the incident, which the Italian felt was unfair.
"For me, the thing I don't like... for me this penalty is because in the last days and at the last race, everybody spoke a lot [about me]," he said. "They penalized me, but if the same thing had happened with some other rider or without me, for me nobody would have been penalized."
He did not believe he had been at fault in the crash.
"I tried to pass him and to do the corner. I tried also to give him some space to do the corner, but I think that he did a little mistake and he arrived a little bit out of the line," said Simoncelli.
"He touched me on the back, I tried to pick up the bike, but he crashed. I'm so sorry for this and the points I've lost."