Crutchlow calls for changes to turn eleven: It's ridiculous
Having witnessed Scott Redding's Friday morning spill at the Sachsenring's turn eleven first hand, Cal Crutchlow believes changes must be made to that infamous section of track to ensure the safety of riders and marshals alike.
"Someone's going to get seriously hurt," Crutchlow warned, after seeing marshals, who were tending to Alvaro Bautista - a faller minutes before Redding - and his machine, fleeing from the Englishman's incoming Ducati.
Thankfully no one was hurt, but, for Crutchlow, the incident underlined the perilous nature of the corner. The LCR Honda rider intends to discuss the need to make alterations in this evening's safety commission meeting.
"It's so dangerous now," he said. "Anyway, the thing is if you give us two percent more camber it means we're going to open the throttle 0.2% more. They need to just slow it down. Someone's going to get seriously hurt; either a rider, or, as you saw this morning, a marshal. It's ridiculous.
"At the end of the day, you have to look at how many crashes there are over a year. Then you have to look at today. Bikes flying through the air and marshals not even hearing them.
"They're not even looking at them, the bike's coming, and they probably can't hear it to be fair. Another rider could be laying in the gravel, a bike could fly in. It's the same for everyone. I don't want to be the guy that complains but..."
The Sachsenring has been resurfaced for 2017, and Aleix Espargaro noted there was a slight camber change on the inside of turn eleven, aimed to slow riders down.
Several other men, Redding and Danilo Petrucci, said they noticed no difference, but Crutchlow feels measures would have to be more severe to avoid riders crashing there with such regularity.
"The problem is you're going to keep going as fast as you can until you crash. It's as simple as that. I know that's the point of racing. You have to find the limit. There is a lottery.
"They just need to make it tighter and slower. I'm not saying put a chicane in. It's a difficult one.
"Honestly, I have to say Scott Redding did nothing wrong. I have no idea why he crashed. He heated the tyre, did three or laps before. There it's so tricky. The worst thing was I came in after the first run and said, 'F**k, there must be more grip at turn eleven because no one is crashing.' The next time I went out they were crashing everywhere.
"You see Hector Barbera in the rain, he gained his whole lap time there because he took a risk. Don't get me wrong. I like fast corners. I like stuff that is maybe a little on the edge. But to me, they need to scrap it. It's getting out of control. You do your whole race weekend thinking, 'Are you going to make it through there or not?' You can do everything right and still be on the floor."
Crutchlow then spoke of his own hairy encounter at turn eleven in free practice for the 2013 event, a race in which he went on to finish second.
"I was f**ked," he said. "If you were to see me the Friday night or Saturday morning... then was another time I shouldn't have been riding. I took that many drugs. I got up that morning and went flat on my back, pissing all over myself. Lucy [Crutchlow, Cal's wife] was screaming in the motorhome because she thought I had died.
"I went through the wardrobe. I got up, had that much morphine, I went for a piss and just fell over. Then I was second in FP3. I qualified second and I finished second.
"Do you know why? I had no feeling in this arm from an injury years and years ago. The bicep doesn't work very well. There is no feel on the skin. But there was that much blood, I thought I had a lot of pain. So I said, 'Give me all you've got' and they just loaded me with morphine. But I was out of it. Properly out of it."
Other than his concerns over turn eleven, Crutchlow praised the new surface, and said that, in spite of his placing of 13th in FP1, which led to him finishing outside the overall free practice top ten, his feeling is good.
"A fucking joke. At the minute I'm in Q1 through one rain shower and Scott Redding crashing. I lost seven tenths in that lap. It would have put me fastest, or second. I had to shut the throttle coming down turn eleven.
"In that sector I lost three tenths. In the next sector I lost three tenths. Six tenths and I could have gained more because I was pissed off at shutting the throttle. I knew I wasn't gaining it back. It put me 13th. I feel I'm riding good. I was really happy with the session. It's just I never made it to the top."
On the new surface, he added, "[It's] Really good. Honestly, in the wet you can't believe. I left the pit lane. I was late because we were messing around in the garage. Marc had done three laps. I saw the blue flags, sit up and I looked down and Marc's got his elbow on the floor. When I see someone's got their elbow on the floor it means you've got to push. But it's got really good grip."
