Social media may have made intimate thoughts a thing of the past and condemned confidentiality to history, but nobody expected a marriage proposal at the same pre-race press conference.

Perhaps least of all former 125 champion and current MotoGP racer Alvaro Bautista.

A new-this-year practice has introduced questions from social media to the riders. One for Bautista came from Grace Barroso, and was quite simple: “Alvaro. Will you marry me?”

The ever-grinning Bautista was wreathed in smiles as he explained: “Grace is my girlfriend and before I left for Argentina I asked her to marry me. She said yes. So we will marry.”