Tension was high during San Marino GP’s press conference at Misano after Yamaha’s Valentino Rossi refused to shake hands with Honda’s Marc Marquez.
In the lead up to Rossi’s home grand prix, Marquez said in an interview that he would like to make peace with the nine-time champion. The two have had a fighting relationship especially since the 2015 MotoGP season.
The infamous hit at Sepang only fueled the situation making the relation even worse. The two had a handshake then in Barcelona in 2016 but their feud reignited earlier this season in Argentina when Marquez forced his way through Rossi.
The Spaniard was apologetic for his actions while the Italian refused to take his apology. However, when asked about the peace comment from Marquez, the Italian was calm in response to state that he has no issues with Marquez per say.
“I heard this but I don’t know, it sounds to me a bit strange because in reality we don’t have any problem between me and Marc, so I don’t know why we have to make peace for me. For me, it is okay,” said Rossi.
Marquez was asked about Rossi’s response. While answering, he extended his arms for a handshake but Rossi smiled and denied. “For me, it is nice,” he said. “Of course, if it is no problem then for me it is no problem to shake hands.
“But it is like this, I mean what can I say, already second time but no problem, I’ll race the same [way].” In his response, Rossi felt there is no need for a handshake. “We don’t need to shake the hand, we are okay, we don’t have any problem,” he said.
