Cal Crutchlow will be at the British GP this weekend on behalf of Monster Energy Yamaha. It was the solution found after Maverick Viñales left, at a time when Franco Morbidelli was out due to injury.
In the course of his career, Crutchlow has mainly competed with satellite teams: in his first three seasons (2011 to 2013) in the service of Tech3 (then a partner of Yamaha) and from 2015 to 2020 with LCR Honda, before joining Spielberg Morbidelli on Petronas this year Yamaha SRT in the two races of Austria.
There was a fleeting presence of the # 35 in a factory structure, however. In 2014, he finished the season serving the Ducati team scoring discrete results at Aston Martin – the worst he really only got in 2011 on his debut and in 2020 in a shorter year of injuries.
Therefore, Crutchlow’s last race in a works team goes back to the 2014 Valencia GP. After three resignations in a row, the Brit was aiming for a worthy conclusion with Ducati on the Ricardo Tormo Circuit. He made it to eighth place at the start and even made it to fourth place by battling for the top 5 positions throughout the race. On the penultimate lap, Crutchlow couldn’t stop his team-mate Andrea Dovizioso and finished fifth.
During its entire season as a works driver, the # 35 had eight retirements in 18 laps and only managed six top ten results.