Crutchlow: Early Sprint End After Hitting Bastianini at Silverstone

Cal Crutchlow's first Silverstone MotoGP Sprint at the age of 40 ended abruptly after just a few corners when "carnage" resulted in the LCR Honda stand-in clipping the back of Enea Bastianini.

The Englishman, who had qualified 20th out of 23, remounted and tried to continue, but a slipping clutch soon sent him into the pits.

"I hit the back of Bastianini. It was all a bit of carnage. I think he hit somebody, then his bike stopped and I hit the back of him and that was it," Crutchlow said. "I got back on and unfortunately because the bike had been lying on its side, the clutch was slipping. So I couldn't continue - I would have continued and done the race."

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"I'm just disappointed because I was up for it today and I was already in a good position when I crashed with Bastianini," he added. "Not a mistake, just one of those things. Sometimes it can happen on the first lap there. We saw some other guys hit each other as well. It was just the angle I hit him at was unfortunate. And we go tomorrow."

Crutchlow was later joined on the DNF list by Iker Lecuona and Raul Fernandez, while Aprilia went on to sweep the Sprint podium after tyre trouble for the likes of Marc Marquez.

"It's surprising considering I got 16 laps on one [soft rear] this morning and it was no problem," said Crutchlow. "Then this afternoon, everyone was all over the place. I'm also a bit miffed as to why, because I wanted to race it tomorrow."

Might the afternoon heat have been an issue for those that faded? "I don't know, it's not that hot. Also, the biggest thing is the lap time. The lap times are one second faster than last year so you're gonna use the tyre more. If you slow down, there's not gonna be a problem. But if you go with that [soft] tyre tomorrow, you have to manage it. I don't think it's a quality issue. I think it's just different bikes, let's say."

Joan Mir finished as the top Honda rider in seventh, with Crutchlow's rookie team-mate Diogo Moreira almost passing the fading Marquez for ninth at the chequered flag.