Several riders spoke post-race about the issue, displaying where they had been hit by bits of the track.

Before the race began, MotoGP reduced the contest by eight laps to 23 laps over track degradation concerns.

Turn 11 was identified as a problematic area in the preceding Moto2 and Moto3 races.

Alex Marquez, who rides for Ducati satellite team Gresini, was among the disgruntled group of riders.

“It was really strange, with less laps, and not easy conditions,” he said during his post-race scrum.

“Between corners 10, 11, all the asphalt was going out, with all the stones, all this.

“Quite unacceptable the conditions that we have today, honestly speaking.

“But it’s like it is, we raced and it was a great show.”

Speaking with broadcaster DAZN, Marquez rolled his sleeve up to show the wounds he had suffered from being pelted by the asphalt.

“When there were riders in front of you, they’d kick up stones,” said Alex.

“It felt more like motocross than a speed race. Otherwise, it didn’t go badly.

“The riders were talking about how the track got bumpier as the weekend went on; they’ll have to look into that for next year.

“They’ve also had bad luck with the rain, but as the sessions went on, there were more potholes. I think Rins’s finger is in worse shape than my arm.”

Factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez lost the final spot on the podium to Fabio Di Giannantonio on the Ducati satellite VR46 when he got loose at Turn 11 on a damaged part of the track.

“In the race today, it was possible to be on the podium, but I made a mistake on that corner where the asphalt was going out,” said Marc.

“I nearly lost the front because I pushed too much.”

While Alex was unhappy with the track’s condition, Marc tempered his brother’s frustration.

“In the end, it was an acceptable condition to continue,” said Marc.

“It’s true that if you touch that point, that was [on] the racing line, and it was super slippery.

“In that lap, I touched that point a little bit, I lost the front and then I went to the kerb.

“So I decided on the kerb not to lean a lot, and I knew that Diggia was close and he would overtake me. But it was better to be in fourth place than crash.”

Some riders pulled asphalt from their boots while Yamaha rider Alex Rins told reporters that he had hurt his finger.

“I didn’t see any piece of tarmac missing on the track, but what is true is that one piece of tarmac hit my finger. You can see,” said Rins, who displayed his bruised finger.

The return of MotoGP to Brazil was plagued by weather-related issues. There was flooding in the lead-up to the event, and then the sprint race was repeatedly delayed due to repairs on a sinkhole on the front straight.