Cal Crutchlow calls for MotoGP weather protocol after sweltering Czech GP

9 hours ago 8

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Cal Crutchlow believes MotoGP should consider introducing a weather protocol after completing what he described as ‘one of the hottest races of his career’ during the Czech Grand Prix.

MotoGP riders were subjected to unusually high temperatures during the Brno weekend, with the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute issuing heatwave warnings throughout the country.

Conditions particularly worsened during the sprint race on Saturday, with air temperature climbing well past 30C and track temperature exceeding 55C at Brno Autodrom.

The searing heat prompted veteran racer Crutchlow to call for action, highlighting how other sporting championships have measures in place for such scenarios.

“It was f*cking hot today,” the Brit, standing in for injured Johann Zarco, said after the sprint.

Cal Crutchlow, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

“It was so hot and you see all this waiting around. You go to the grid and then you try to come off the grid because it's too hot. It was seriously hot, like one of the hottest races I've ever done.

“It was a half-race. Imagine if it were a 20-lap race today.

“In my opinion, they need to start to think about this whole situation a little bit. I don't know, but in other sports, they have weather protocols, they have all these things.”

After another tough Sunday race in which the ambient temperature touched 33C, Crutchlow highlighted how difficult it was to race in a pack.

“The heat on lap one, in the pack, pff,” he said. “On Saturday, I thought my eyebrows were singed. On Sunday, I came from Turn 4 on the first lap, and went for my tear-off because it looked burned. There's that much heat coming from everyone's bikes when you're in a pack.”

Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez backed Crutchlow on the matter, adding that the pre-race grid procedure adds to riders’ problems in extreme weather conditions.

Asked why he appeared so exhausted after the sprint, the factory Ducati rider said: “The thing is that I don't like the schedule.

“I try to save energy all weekend, but then when you are there in the sprint with 55 degrees on the ground and 35 degrees in the air, you are waiting there for 25 minutes, sweating,” he said.

“So I don't like it, I hated that podium.”

Crutchlow argued that the problem eventually boils down to a lack of unity among riders on pressing matters, including safety.

“The problem you have here is the same as always, [not having] a riders’ union,” he said. “One guy will race, so then everybody will race. And the [MotoGP] organisation knows this.

“If it was that deep in water, one guy would go out, and everybody would say, ‘we're not going out’. Then that guy would leave the pitlane, everyone would leave the pitlane because they won't stick together, because they don't want somebody to have an advantage or they don't want their manufacturer to say to them, ‘Ah, you didn't do that race, so you're not getting paid.’

“That's the reality.”

Cal Crutchlow, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Asked why Formula 1 drivers don’t face such situations, he added: “Because they stick together.”

F1’s weather protocol explained

F1, also owned by Liberty Media, has a dedicated heat hazard protocol for extreme weather. Introduced in response to the 2023 Qatar GP, which took place in hot and humid conditions, it automatically kicks in if forecasts predict ambient temperatures of 31C or higher during a sprint or a grand prix.

In such cases, drivers are permitted to wear a specialised cooling vest under their overalls to help manage their body temperature.

The heat hazard was triggered at last year’s Singapore and Miami events.

Further, starting this season, F1 also introduced a new rain hazard warning system that is activated when forecasts indicate “precipitation greater than 40% at some point during the sprint or the race at a competition, or at the sole discretion of the race director”.

The system was deployed for the first time at this year’s Miami GP.