If Maverick Vinales, currently banned from Yamaha for deliberately over-revving his engine, doesn’t return for Silverstone, a rumored change of line-up could see Cal Crutchlow drafted into the official team and compatriot Jake Dixon make a surprise MotoGP debut at Petronas.
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As the official Yamaha test rider, Crutchlow is the obvious choice to step in alongside world champion Fabio Quartararo should Yamaha make Vinales’ suspension permanent.
But Crutchlow, who retired from full-time racing at the end of last year, is already replacing the injured Franco Morbidelli at SRT.
With the Italian not returning until Misano, Petronas would need a new replacement for Valentino Rossi at Silverstone and Aragon after a move from Crutchlow.
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And that new rider could just be Jake Dixon from SRT, who is currently competing for the Malaysian team in the Moto2 class.
Crutchlow refused to comment at Silverstone on “whether Dixon rides the bike or not” – and it is worth noting that if Yamaha were to part ways with Vinales now, it could give up any hope of maintaining their lead in the Team World Championship – but added:
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“Is he [Dixon] ready to ride a bike? I do not know. That is hard to say. I wasn’t ready to ride [in Austria] But I did and I think if he rides it will do him fine, he will walk fine.
“The bike around Silverstone is pretty simple I would say, even when I rode the bike 2011-2012-2013 – well, I didn’t ride ’11, I was in the hospital – ’12 and ’13 the bike was good “around Silverstone.
“It’s a lot smoother than this track. A completely different situation than coming here and trying to drive on a track that is really a losing battle.
“If he comes and rides he will surely enjoy it.”
Crutchlow spoke after completing the second Red Bull Ring race, where he repeated his 17th place from the previous week on the 2019 A-Spec M1.
“Track conditions weren’t fantastic as you can see from the lap times from last week to this week just because it was hotter,” said Crutchlow. “But overall I think we have taken a step in the right direction.
“I made a mistake and went too far in a corner, which cost me a little towing to Danilo, and then I had a problem with the electronics on the bike.
“From the final corner the bike really didn’t accelerate like the power was dying when I opened the throttle. It was because I changed the map, it seems like something is wrong with the map so I have this Changed card again and the same thing happened.
“So I had to go back to the first card and it took me 3-4 rounds to understand everything.
“At that point the race was ahead of me, but I was comfortable with my pace and the goal of finishing the race, but then it started to rain.
“The problem was that I was by far the last because I was slowing down with the electronics and couldn’t see anyone. So I didn’t know whether everyone had a pit or not. So I finally looked at the big screen” and saw a lot People in the pits, so I pitted, went back out, and the track was like ice!
“The ground was so hot it seemed like a shine on the surface. But I didn’t have bad pace on those two laps.
“A really tricky race, I’m happy to see the finish line. I think we would have improved a lot in terms of pace and distance to the winner if it had run completely dry without any problems.
“But overall we had two good weekends full of fun, nice to be back on the bike and the team worked well.”
Although he couldn’t score any points, the three-time MotoGP race winner was happy with his speed.
“The problem is that they go too fast and have to slow down! I had a really bad qualifying, but as a full-time driver with six years on the Honda I qualified half a tenth slower than last year.” said.
“I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks on paper. At least we got some good information, at one point in the warm-up I lost an average of six tenths in the first sector alone. That’s because of the speed of the bike.
“It’s never been a good track for Franco or them [A-Spec] Yamaha, which I rode when Fabio and the other guys were riding them, they had big problems on this track. So I did what I could and that’s the reality.
“It was never easy to get on or on this route after five months without a motorcycle and understand a lot of things. But I think we did well. We’ve given Yamaha some good information below with Sumi [Yamaha MotoGP project leader] Discuss the bike ’19, bike ’21 and next year’s bike for almost 40 minutes this morning. “
While Crutchlow and Morbidelli’s crew boss Ramon Forcada tried out a variety of setups, the Englishman still has to make the A-Spec as comfortable as the 2021 factory bike that he tested earlier this year.
“We tried a lot of different setups, including their base, but the one I feel better with is the 2021 bike, because that’s what I tested,” said Crutchlow.
For which team – Petronas or Monster – he will next drive in front of his home fans at Silverstone, Crutchlow expects to “do my job and test it. Even though I race, it’s a test to turn the bike upside down if you want to. That’s the good.
“The problem I had with the electronics today was a good thing that it happened to me and not to the other person [Yamaha] Equestrian. That’s why we’re here to do these things.
“To be back on the bike after such a long break and to be almost as fast as last year was very happy with it. It’s just that everyone else was faster and that’s the reality.
“So we’re going to Silverstone with better hopes to improve my feeling and what else we can improve. But overall, I’m looking forward to Silverstone.”
Teammate Valentino Rossi finished the season best eighth after deciding to stay on slicks in the rain.