This picture appears to show a member of Max Biaggi's Camel Honda team cleaning the Roman's grid slot late on Friday night, in preparation for Saturday's Qatar Grand Prix.
Although the picture is 'murky', the grid slot being brushed, and apparently washed, is on the right hand side of the track – consistent with Biaggi's original twelfth placed starting position.
Camel Honda team principal Sito Pons later admitted that his team had cleaned Biaggi's grid slot, but claimed it was standard practice at a new track and was purely for safety purposes.
"Max started this race from the back of the grid for a penalty which I feel was too severe," said Sito. "The team has done what you do to a new track and where the presence of sand was more than evident.
"To clean the position where the rider is starting from is a process which is simply for the safety of the rider at the start, a preventative measure which the organisation should have dealt with especially in the area of the starting grid," he explained.
"I repeat, our intervention was only trying to guarantee the safety of the rider on the track."
However, presuming the picture is of a Camel Honda team member - and if not, then another team should also have been penalized - the grid cleaning clearly took place late at night (as did Rossi's) implying some effort to keep it secret.