Several backmarkers behind Bastianini were able to avoid hitting his stranded bike, which was laying across the circuit on the approach to the back straight into turn 2.

However, Hafizh Syahrin, who was running in seventeenth at the moment, came out of the slipstream of Jake Dixon and hit Bastianini's bike at over 200 kph within fractions of a second.

Syahrin was taken to the medical center with the suspicion of a leg injury and was therefore ruled out of the Styrian GP for the upcoming weekend at the same venue.

The second crash occurred on lap 9 of the MotoGP race involving Johann Zarco and Franco Morbidelli, who came together on the approach to turn 3.

By making contact with each other, Morbidelli and Zarco each fell off their bikes, with Morbidelli's bike sliding across the grass on the outside of the track in full speed, then slightly taking-off before somersaulting multiple times and then flying straight back on track onto the apex of turn 3 and narrowly missing out both Yamaha factory riders Maverick Viñales and Valentino Rossi in the process, who were running in sixth and seventh place respectively.

Several Grands Prix were cancelled or postponed after the aborted opening round in Qatar, prompting the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme to draft a new calendar.