Trackhouse MotoGP rider Raul Fernandez has revealed that he kept the true and severe nature of his hand injury a strict secret after finishing in a remarkable second place at the Indonesian Grand Prix. The Spanish competitor suffered a broken digit following a collision with Aprilia stablemate Marco Bezzecchi during the opening lap of Saturday's sprint race.
Having successfully secured his career-first pole position earlier in the weekend, Fernandez's participation in the main Grand Prix was cast into major doubt following the heavy opening-day crash that immediately compromised his physical condition. Despite the intense pain and uncertainty surrounding his fitness, he took his place at the head of the grid and went on to deliver a stellar performance, leading the race for 18 of the 27 laps.
However, it was only after the chequered flag that he disclosed the astonishing reality that his injury was significantly worse than anyone outside his inner circle realized, having actually sustained breaks to two separate fingers. Speaking candidly in parc ferme, the Spaniard detailed the sheer difficulty of managing the physical trauma throughout the race weekend.
"I didn’t have more," he stated in parc ferme. "I don’t really know what I can say, because for me it was really difficult when I crashed and I saw immediately my hand. I knew before going to the Clinica that I had broken my finger, the one I normally use to brake. So, when I saw that I thought maybe I wouldn’t be able to start from pole in the main race. This morning when I woke up, I saw that I didn’t have one - I had two broken fingers! And no one knew. I tried to not say anything, just keep the pain for me and just keep my focus on the race."
To accommodate the physical limitation, the Trackhouse technical crew had to perform emergency adjustments to his machine's handlebars and lever positions to allow him to operate the bike safely. Despite these quick fixes, Fernandez confessed that all of his braking reference points were rendered completely useless as he was forced to adapt to using a different finger to scrub speed.
"Normally I brake with that one and this morning I was not able to use that one," he explained to MotoGP’s After the Flag. "I saw that when I jumped on the bike this morning to see if I could race or not, I took up the normal hand position and the problem was not the handlebar: the problem for me was how could I brake? The team did some changes on the position of my hand, a little change in position of the brake. I feel that, OK, now it’s time to try on track because on the bike I felt good. So, I tried it this morning. The worst part of that was the reference I had the rest of the weekend was completely zero, because I was starting from zero. The reference for how I brake, for how I take the corners, was completely different. It was difficult to manage, but finally we got to make the race, we got an amazing podium. After 13, 14 laps I was almost destroyed. I felt super painful because to keep my focus on the handlebar and not make a mistake was super difficult."
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