Bezzecchi: Wet conditions “were a bit dangerous, aquaplaning on straights”

With more rain forecast for the afternoon, it had looked as though the MotoGP sprint was going to be in danger of being delayed.

Heavy rain this morning meant riders had to tackle a very treacherous Silverstone circuit, one where aquaplaning led to several crashes.

• Bagnaia: “I was on the limit going slow, we know P13 is not our level” 
• British MotoGP, Silverstone - Sprint Race Results

One of the riders to go down in a big way, and not for the first time this weekend, was Bezzecchi who went on to claim pole position despite falling in qualifying.

The Mooney VR46 Ducati rider then claimed P2 in the 10-lap sprint, but was not totally convinced that this morning’s running was safe enough to go ahead.

"It was a bit dangerous to be honest," said Bezzecchi. "Not too much in the corners but in all the straights that this track has I was having a lot of aquaplaning and rear spin. 

"It was difficult to control because you are full gas and you cannot do anything. Also, where I crashed was a point where there was a lot of water. 

"In the qualifying, maybe it was okay. It was on the limit but okay. But if we had to start the sprint like this then it was too dangerous because the view was nothing."

Like Bezzecchi, world champion Francesco Bagnaia was a victim of the difficult conditions as Luca Marini and Alex Marquez also hit the deck.

Bagnaia crashed at turn five shortly after applying the brakes, which was a clear sign that the front-end of his machine could not handle the huge amounts of water on the circuit.

Speaking after the sprint, Bagnaia said: "Already in the FP2 it was red flag [conditions]. In a practice session it is okay to let us go, but the spray and considering my crash I was already in the front and like Marco said, in a race you would go [down] with three or four riders. 

"It would have needed to be red flagged if it were these conditions in the race."