Crutchlow admits he "should have risked more" at Jerez

After suffering four crashes in the first three races of the campaign, the British rider finally got himself on the scoreboard in Spain as he banked five points for an 11th place finish.

Speaking to Motorsport.com afterwards, Crutchlow admitted that his calamitous start to the campaign was playing on his mind during the race, and that getting to the finish line had to be the priority.

But the LCR Honda rider was disappointed with the result nonetheless, and wish in hindsight he had taken more risks to try and get a better result.

“In all honesty, it was not a good race,” Crutchlow told Motorsport.com. “We had some problem with the rear tyre – it was spinning in a straight line, no grip from the start.

“There are no excuses, we finished where we finished, and at least we finished the race.

“We have to look because I probably one of the smoothest Honda riders on the rear tyre, but for some reason we had a problem I thought was going to be quite big in the end.”

He added: “I tried to take it easy but still the tyre never worked. I shouldn’t have done what I did; I should have just pushed and risked it more.

“When I knew there was something wrong after two or three laps, I thought 'I’ve got to finish' – I didn’t cruise round, I continued to push, but it was all I could do with the tyre."

“Impossible” to pass on Honda

As well as the rear tyre woes that afflicted the majority of the field at Jerez, Crutchlow also said he found riding with other riders much more challenging than lapping alone.

“Another thing is at the moment on the Honda it’s really difficult to pass other riders,” he explained.

“We can ride alone [fine] all weekend, in practice and qualifying, no problem. Then you battle with other riders and it’s impossible to pass.

“Honda are looking into it, as are we [LCR] to see if we can do something different with the set-up.”