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Crutchlow adds crucial home interest as MotoGP returns to Silverstone
Torrential, relentless showers in 2018 and then the rain of pandemic restrictions in 2020 have limited the MotoGP British Grand Prix to just one race from the last four years at Silverstone. This weekend, however, a vast complement of fans should be able to end their fast for the sight and sounds of the world’s speediest bikes, lapping the longest circuit and the second-fastest course on the calendar for round 12 of 18 in the 2021 season.
They will also have a keen focal point with the re-appearance of Britain’s Cal Crutchlow to the grid. Local hopes have also been elevated by the surprise promotion of Moto2 rider and former British Superbike (BSB) race winner Jake Dixon to the saddle of the Petronas Yamaha alongside Valentino Rossi; the Italian legend making his last appearance at Silverstone, a venue where he won in 2015, has finished on the podium four times and made his 300th outing (of 425 so far) in 2017.
Victory celebrations in the other categories remain viable thanks to Sam Lowes in Moto2 and John McPhee in Moto3.
With pole position at Silverstone in 2016 and a lauded walk on the rostrum as runner-up the same year, it’s Crutchlow who has unexpectedly added some much-needed British bias to MotoGP. The 2021 season began in Qatar in April without a UK rider among the ranks after the Englishman hit the kill switch on a 10-season GP career last November and had moved into an official testing role for Yamaha.
The Japanese firm has seen its principal title bet – 21-year-old Fabio Quartararo – stretch a 47-point margin at the top of the championship but the remainder of its four-rider effort has gone into meltdown.
Quartararo’s teammate, Maverick Viñales, was controversially suspended from the squad before the Austrian round almost two weeks ago due to “irregular operation” of his YZR-M1 racing machine. An inconsistent five-season stint between the talented Spaniard and Yamaha was terminated a year and a-half before the end of his present contract.
Rossi has been uncompetitive – logging only two top 10 results on the factory machine – while 2020 runner-up Franco Morbidelli required reconstructive left knee surgery at the end of June, which brought Crutchlow in from the sidelines and his marginal testing role. He initially competed alongside Rossi through rounds 10 and 11 in Austria this month but he has now been thrust into the factory set-up in place of Viñales.
MotoGP teams’ contractual obligation to fill saddles means Dixon is the latest and unlikely substitute after a disappointing term in the intermediate class for the same Petronas team, largely caused by a pre-season wrist injury.
Crutchlow was able to use the double-header in Austria (the quickest track in MotoGP) to re-adjust to the competitive intensity of GP competition, where less than one second frequently split the top 10 fastest riders in Q2 qualifiers.
“I found my mind going back into a racer’s feeling,” he told the media at the Red Bull Ring. “I was in the garage thinking ‘I can be faster here, I can improve there…’ It’s funny how it comes back.”
The former Honda and Ducati rider began his MotoGP career with Yamaha in 2011 but the accumulation of injuries and mileage meant he wanted to ease his grip on the throttle after 2020. The testing role allowed him to drip-feed the adrenaline of riding at 220mph.
“I enjoy the tests, I enjoy my role of chilling out in the day, as in there's no pressure,” he admitted. “When you get back to racing you find the pressure comes from yourself. You sit there and you’re like, ‘I need to go faster, I should do this and that’. And then you start to lose the enjoyment of it, I think. This job is the best job in the world, but the hardest job in the world but I like the competition of racing motorcycles and it’s funny how I slipped back into it.”
Crutchlow carved his place in MotoGP history when his triumph in the Czech Republic on 21 August 2016, broke a 40-year dry spell for Britain. He followed up with success in Australia and Argentina and was a popular and spectacular rider as part of the GP cast.
Crutchlow had modest and realistic expectations in Austria and finished outside of the points both times, with the last of the two races occurring in dramatic late showery conditions.
“Yes, I can be more competitive because the more you ride the more you get the feeling,” he claimed afterwards. However, his positivity is tempered by experience. He might be riding the same bike that is currently leading MotoGP with Frenchman Quartararo but he knows the chance of resurrecting those glory days of half a decade ago around Silverstone’s 18 corners will be a steep ask.
“To ride at home is always special but this year it is completely different situation compared to trying to perform and trying to get on the podium,” he says. “Obviously, when you go out there you give your best, and I will do it on that race weekend but I very, very much doubt my best will be like my previous best. That doesn’t mean you just ride around though!”
The 35-year-old has forged MotoGP milestones but a British rider still hasn’t won the premier class of the British Grand Prix for almost half a century. The last victor was Yorkshireman Mick Grant, who used a 500cc Kawasaki to win the 1975 Isle of Man TT, a year before the FIM removed the perilous road circuit’s world championship status.
There should still be a sizeable crowd willing Crutchlow on, as well as soaking up the other narratives emerging in MotoGP this year such as Quartararo’s excellence, Marc Marquez recovery from a devastating broken arm, Ducati’s strong line-up of talent, KTM’s technical turnaround and, of course, Rossi’s swansong.
“What he has done for the sport is incredible,” Crutchlow remarked of the 42-year-old Italian’s peerless career. “You just have to say ‘Valentino Rossi’ to people, and they know what you are talking about. He is one of those great sporting icons. His motivation to be fast is unbelievable.”
The British Grand Prix should look, feel and sound pretty much normal. Guests are not allowed in the paddock or within contact of the riders but the popular Day of Champions auction for the Two Wheels for Life charity on Thursday will still happen with video messages from the MotoGP stars.
Silverstone apparently welcomed up to 350,000 spectators across three days of the Formula 1 Grand Prix in July, with the fixture filling one of 37 in the government’s Event Research Programme. Figures published just over a week ago showed that the Covid-19 case incidence level reached just 0.17% through the NHS Test and Trace App, with 343 likely to have already been infectious at the time of the GP, leading the government to rubber-stamp cautious re-openings of mass sport and cultural events.
MotoGP is a direct benefit of that initiative. “We’re operating the event under current Step 4 government regulations, with no restrictions on capacity and we’re well within our capabilities to deliver this event, working in conjunction with all the agencies – police, ambulance, public health etc,” a Silverstone spokesman told us.
Such is the thirst of British fans for the return of the world’s premier bike racing series that the event is a sell-out.
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