‘It’s why we can’t race’ - MotoGP tyre pressure rule labelled "joke" after German GP

LCR Honda MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow has called the current tyre pressure rules “bull****” and is “why we can’t race”, following a processional German Grand Prix.

Last weekend’s sprint and grand prix at the Sachsenring were marred by a lack of overtaking, as riders struggled with soaring front tyre temperatures.

In 2023, MotoGP introduced new minimum front tyre pressures upon a recommendation from Michelin on safety grounds, after teams had previously been found to have exploited a grey area in the rules.

But the regulation has been widely panned, particularly for the negative impact it has had on the spectacle.

Cal Crutchlow, who never competed under the current rule in his full-time career, praised Michelin for the work it has done over the years, but hit out at the pressure regulation.

“No, but the rules are bullshit, you know, for this,” he began.

“Let us do what we want to do. We already race motorcycles anyway. I understand the whole, let's say, safety thing.

“Listen, Michelin do a great job. They've always done a great job to remain so solid for so many years in this championship. They've done a good job.

“But the rules are a joke. And that's why we can't race, and we can't pass. Because of that rule, you have to slow down. You have to speed up. You have to… just let us manage ourselves.

“And we'll manage. And if we come, for me as well, I'd be like, ‘OK, set it really, really low. And if I get a penalty, I get a penalty’. It doesn't matter to me.

“But it also doesn't work like that. You have to be realistic that in the first laps, if not, it's going to be difficult. And if you are alone, the bike's going to feel different as well.

“But, yeah, especially here, the one thing is here, if you have it here, you're in trouble because there's nowhere to pull out of the slipstream.

“There's nowhere to cool it down. So, it was just a race like this.

“I wished I would have been, let's say, three places ahead and could have rode my own race.

“But I couldn't. I had to try to push to catch the next guy, to drop the guy behind me.

“Then you keep it hot. Then you catch the next guy, and it's still hot, or you get passed, and it's hot. It's one of them, you know.”

Crutchlow was on for a point for the first time in his return to racing until he crashed while running 15th.