Petronas Yamaha’s Franky Morbidelli believes the 200mph crash which took him and Johann Zarco out of today’s Red Bull Ring MotoGP clash was ‘impossible to avoid’.

The pair tangled on the way into turn three which turned Morbidelli’s satellite YZR-M1 into an unguided missile that missed Valentino Rossi and Maverick Vinales by inches.

Both riders went to the track medical centre and were discharged with no serious injuries

“I’m a little bit sore, but everything is fine. Looking at footage of the crash it is good to be able to walk away like this,” said Morbidelli.

“I consider myself to be very lucky. It was a strange crash because Johann overtook me on the straight and then changed his line under braking to go very wide. With the changed line and the slipstream there was just nowhere for me to go, it was impossible for me to avoid him.

“Thankfully we are both alright. It was important to get good points at this race, as it’s not a strong one for the Yamaha bike, so I’m sorry to my team that we couldn’t do that. I was trying my best to do my race but we were not able to this time. Now we try again next Sunday.”