When one of MotoGP’s most (in)famously candid personalities exerts an opinion on the actions of another of MotoGP’s most unapologetic racers, you can expect the latter to land a response.
So when Jorge Lorenzo offered a brief two cents when asked what he thought about Cal Crutchlow being drafted in to replace him as Yamaha test rider for 2021, opinions were indeed expressed.
It all started with Lorenzo replying to a tweet that called out Yamaha for choosing to drop the Spaniard in favour of Crutchlow having only used him sparingly all year, saying Crutchlow was trading a ‘gold for bronze’ in in a veiled dig at Yamaha perhaps more than the racer himself.
While it is true Lorenzo’s services were never going to be required as much as anticipated in 2020 due to the cut-backs brought on by COVID-19, it is true Yamaha was suspiciously sparing in delegating any responsibility to him.
In the end, Lorenzo completed only a few laps in Sepang at the top of the year and wouldn’t get on the M1 again until October for the Portimao test, where he was five seconds slower than the pace setter amid talk he wasn’t quite in the right shape to handle the workload.
Correct. It’s like exchanging gold for bronze... https://t.co/IE4EVshfH8
— Jorge Lorenzo (@lorenzo99) November 14, 2020
As such, Lorenzo has been quietly dropped in a manner quite the opposite of the fanfare generated when he was first announced just weeks after ‘retiring’ from MotoGP midway through a Repsol Honda deal.
By all accounts, Crutchlow is expected to be more motivated by the task at hand and duly played began his Yamaha affiliation by neatly dismissing Lorenzo’s abilities as a test rider before suggesting he is just ‘bored at home’.
"At the end of the day I don’t really have anything to say to him. He feels the way he feels. I fully respect him as a racer, a five times world champion – he will tell you a lot that he's five times world champion!
"He's incredible as a racer and very, very special on the bike but that doesn’t mean he's a great test rider. It's as simple as that. So I think you have to take some things he says with a pinch of salt and get on.
"I'm sure it's affecting him more than it's affecting me, what he said. I can take it with a pinch of salt because it comes from a guy that walks around telling people things all the time.
"At the end of the day it's no skin off my back. I'm happy. I have things to do, I have a family, friends and, you know, obviously he's just bored at home."
