Silverstone saga: Monday or Tuesday MotoGP race in future

The MotoGP paddock reconvened at Misano on Thursday with the cancellation of the previous Silverstone race a hot topic, not least in terms of what should happen to avoid a repeat in the future…

Does Silverstone need to be resurfaced?

Aleix Espargaro: "Definitely."

Marc Marquez: "Resurface everything. But resurface in a good way. This is the main target, because some days it will rain at Silverstone, and like we saw this year, and also with the cars – now we know, after the race, that they already had problems in other races.

Valentino Rossi: "For me, in the dry, the surface was not too bad. But looks like they made something wrong, because with the water, with the rain, it wasn't drying up. So this is the main problem. They have to fix this problem. I like Silverstone a lot, but now, in case of rain, it's too dangerous. So I think they have to find a way to improve this aspect."

Jorge Lorenzo: "I'm not a tarmac expert and I don't really know what they did in that particular change of asphalt. My impression is that probably they didn't take out the old asphalt and put the new asphalt on top of the old asphalt, so that's why also in the dry we got a lot of bumps, created probably by the cars by F1. So I repeat, I'm not an asphalt expert, but probably a good idea would be to take out all the asphalt and start again a new asphalt."

Jack Miller: "I think that's quite clear. It shouldn't have been a drama because I've seen races held in much worse conditions. In my opinion the 100% fault comes down to the asphalt. Because it didn't drain. The water sat on top. The rain on Sunday was expected to be this crazy rain, but to be honest it was drizzling all day. It was not real rain.

"In North Queensland we get rain, and that's what I was expecting. It was nothing like that and definitely nothing to stop the race. Last year for example here [Misano] we had much worse rain.

"But [Silverstone] already on Friday when we did FP1 and 2 and there was a puddle on the G-out at the bottom of turn seven as you go into eight. I honestly thought it was the dust that you use to clean up oil. Then I worked out it was a puddle where the water was coming through the ground, a little bit like in Sepang. That shouldn't be.

"I'm not being smart or anything, but in England it's not like it only rains once or twice a year. The knowledge is there about how to get asphalt to drain and I just think it wasn't done properly.

"It is true that tracks and asphalt get better with age, when it's fresh there is so much tar it seals and then drains better with age. But for me, what they did was asphalt on top of [the old] asphalt, so it's really sealed the thing because the bumps and everything were still there if not worse. It's created a really tight seal and [the water] is not going through."

'We could have raced'

Despite his views on the asphalt, Miller was the only rider present at the impromptu Safety Commission meeting - where the fate of the race was ultimately decided - who wanted to go ahead with the race.

Miller still stands by that opinion.

"100% I think we could have [raced]. I think we quit too early. Because I didn’t leave the track straight away - I sat there and waited for the traffic to die down – and the weather got better as the day went on. The rain stopped. Sure it was still wet, but to cancel it as early as we did was strange.

"I didn't agree. It was a majority vote. I didn’t change my opinion, it was always the same."

Slow out-laps contributed to Stowe accidents

Miler also insisted riders being too careful on their out-laps from the pits after the heavy Saturday shower contributed to the spate of incidents at the end of Hangar Straight, which in turn influenced the decision not to race on Sunday.

"A lot of them you saw running off at the end of the straight and stuff like that. But that was not due to the conditions. It was due to exiting pit lane and not needing to use the brakes until the end of the back straight. if you go as slow as they were going on the way out.

"I passed a lot of the guys that ran off because I was pushing and I knew the brakes don’t work if you don’t heat them up.

"So they all run out [wide] because they are using carbon brakes in the wet, which two years ago nobody did and it was borderline if you could use them in the wet. Also if you don't force the tyres through the first sector, they were cold and not working properly.

"I didn't have a drama because I attacked on the brakes straight out of pitlane and my bike was working quite well. So that's how I felt.

"Also for example, where the aquaplaning problem was, if you could avoid the racing line and go down the inside it was dry, because the water was running down. So it was a case of having to ride to the conditions.

"For sure it would have been dangerous running the normal lines, but if you could ride to the conditions, it's motorcycle racing, and ok."

Tito Rabat was left with a badly broken leg when he was hit by the fallen machine of Franco Morbidelli during the Stowe corner incidents.

"We all lived to ride another day, except for Tito who is not here this weekend. But that was unfortunate and I think that influenced a lot of the decision making," Miller said.

Miller was alone in wanting to race

Aleix Espargaro said that Miller being the only opposing voice in the Safety Commission meeting meant riders were unusually united in their verdict.

"We were 21 riders. The only rider who was against all the others was Jack. Jack was saying that it wasn't dangerous and that it was good to race. Everybody else was saying it was super dangerous to race.

"It's strange because normally in the Safety Commission, among 22 or 23 riders there are many different opinions. But this time everybody was together except Jack, who was also right [to have his opinion]. If you want to race and think it's safe, then okay, but he was the only one."

What about Zarco, some people said he also wanted to race?

"Zarco didn't want to race," Espargaro said. "Actually Zarco was one of the guys who talked more in the meeting. He said 'it's not good to race, we cannot race'. He was one of the strongest guys with Pedrosa and Petrucci. These three spoke the most. That's why I don't understand when I read on the internet that Zarco wanted to race. It's not true."

How were riders' told about Safety Commission meeting?

While the decision reached by the riders was overwhelming, there was some controversy afterwards due to not all 24 being present at the meeting where the vote was taken.

Andrea Dovizioso, Valentino Rossi and Scott Redding were thought to have been absent, with Ducati releasing a statement calling for clearer communication of such meetings.

Miller and Espargaro may have held opposing views on holding a race, but they both had little sympathy for anyone complaining that they were not aware of the meeting.

"I heard from the team. I got a message from [Franco] Uncini. I heard from about 16 different people," Miller said. "Most of those that didn't go were the guys that are not normally at a Safety Commission meeting on a Friday.

"You need to make an effort if you want to be involved in that sort of stuff and if you don't then why should someone make an effort for you? It's not obliged, but everybody is welcome…

"Vale didn't go, Scott didn't go but he never goes. Dovi as well, but he's normally always there [at the Safety Commission]."

Espargaro said: "Scott and Lorenzo I think are the only riders who never come to the Safety Commission meetings.

"And I can explain how [the Silverstone meeting happened]: I talked with Dani [Pedrosa] in the paddock, then I saw Maverick [Vinales] and we started to say to everyone around us to go to IRTA and talk a little bit together.

"I was fifth or sixth to arrive and in two minutes there were 100 people around IRTA.

"Maybe some riders didn't know at the beginning but they could arrive later. For example Luthi didn't know and arrived when we were already talking. Abraham and Bautista I think as well.

"But the paddock is small and everyone was waiting for some news… so if you are watching TV or in the garage then you would realise that something is happening at IRTA and go there.

"The people who didn't know and didn't come, I'm sorry but they didn't come because they didn't want to come."

Riders should have voted on a Monday race

Before the riders' meeting, the teams had already voted on whether to move the race to Monday - as happened in Qatar 2009 - and rejected the idea.

"I believe the riders should have made the choice to race on Monday," said Miller. "I believe that should have been put down to the riders and we should have gone ahead with the grand prix.

"We make a calendar for 19 races and then we don't do them all. It's 25 points taken off the table for the championship and the fans. It's like the Argentina thing. These things are done under high pressure and they try and make the best out of the situation."

The main reason cited for some teams voting not to race on Monday, a Bank Holiday in the UK, was a mid-week test session arranged for Aragon.

"I'd much rather race than test," Miller said. "The test doesn't mean so much but the race is of course what we are all here for.

"Logistically they changed the schedule for the race in Qatar. To fly from England, when just about everybody is based in Europe, is a lot cheaper than for Qatar. Everybody is flying RyanAir, Easyjet or Vuelling. So 80-90 euros a ticket."

No more race cancellations - Dorna CEO

Dorna's CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta agrees with Miller and has announced on Movistar TV that in future MotoGP races will be rescheduled to a Monday or even Tuesday, rather than cancelled.

"It’s important that everybody knows that if the race can’t be held on the Sunday, we will race on Monday or Tuesday. We come here to race. Tomorrow I will let the riders know, that there will always be a safe race, always when possible, but safe, I don’t like to change the rules, and this wasn’t confirmed.

"From now on we will race on a Monday, if it’s possible to race on the Monday. I will tell them to be prepared to race the following day. We must also tell this to the organisers.”

New asphalt must be checked in the wet

Aleix Espargaro: "It's not normal what happened last week. I was very angry also how the situation was managed and I don’t understand how we can go there and… for me it's bullshit that it didn’t rain in Silverstone before we were there.

"The rain we had in the weekend was normal, it was not heavy rain, so they knew something. Because if you are working at the circuit and it starts to rain you can see that the water is not going out of the track.

"They tried everything I'm sure after the incident with Rabat, in the night making holes in the run-off area. But they should know this. MotoGP is a very important championship. So they should know before we go there.

"When we go to a new track or they do new tarmac, Franco [Uncini] always goes there with a car, sometimes Loris [Capirossi] with a bike, the Safety Commission put some videos. So this was very strange what happened at Silverstone.

"For me they checked in the dry, maybe in the future they will also have to check in the wet. Obviously we have to learn from the mistakes and in the last 25-30 years there was never a race cancelled so for sure they will improve."

It's difficult to do a wet test?

"Yeah but also our job is difficult. Your job is difficult. For me it's not an excuse. To say it's difficult… They have many days during the year and Silverstone is a place where it rains quite often so I understand that they tried their best, but they need to try a little bit better because again if it was like a hurricane with a lot of water then okay, but it was normal rain."