Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi has warned against too much aggression after yesterday’s 200mph crash which missed him by inches at the Red Bull Ring MotoGP round.

Rossi and Monster Yamaha team-mate Maverick Vinales were lucky to escape serious injury as Franco Morbidelli’s YZR-M1 torpedo’d its way through an air fence and then across the track at just over head height after a collision with Johann Zarco.

“It was so scary. It was terrifying. We have to pray to somebody, everybody has to pray to who he decides. But, fuck. I feel bad. I was scared, very much. Because today was very dangerous,” said Rossi, speaking at the track.

“Now, everybody is very aggressive in MotoGP, and also in the small classes. I can understand it, but for me it’s important that we don’t exaggerate.

“You need to have respect for the other riders because we can’t forget that this sport is very dangerous. Especially in a track where you have long straights and you always go at 300 km/h.

What I said is that also from the small classes, you have a lot of riders who close the door in the face of the others when braking. In Italian we say “frenare in faccia”, ‘brake in the face’.”

Visibly shaken after the incident, Rossi went out for the re-start and brought home a fifth placer but immediately sought out Zarco to give him a dressing down.

“Zarco was very wide, and he ‘brakes in the face’ of Franco, maybe to not let Franco overtake him back in braking. But he’s too close, and when you are at 300 km/h you have a lot of slipstream, and Franco didn’t have any chance to brake. At the end, there is a lot of risk. We risk a lot, especially me and Maverick.

“I spoke with Zarco, face-to-face. I said this also to him. He said to me that he didn’t do it on purpose. But anyway, aggressive is good, but braking in the face of the other riders, especially at 300 km/h is a potential disaster.”