Espargaro criticises “dangerous” Sachsenring after practice crashes

Turn 11 in particular was the scene of a number of incidents during Friday practice, with the cool conditions catching out Scott Redding, Jorge Lorenzo, Stefan Bradl, Maverick Vinales and Tito Rabat.

All five riders escaped without injury, although Lorenzo was forced to see medical staff to check his left wrist after his trip to the gravel trap.

Speaking to media on Friday, Espargaro was in no doubt that the turn in question was “very dangerous” and has been a safety concern for years.

“The problem [at Turn 11] is not the corner speed, the problem is that the front tyre is cold and there is no weight in the front [of the bike],” said the Suzuki rider.

“If you try to go fast, you crash. It doesn’t matter what you do.

“We really need to think about racing here at the Sachsenring, because it’s very dangerous. It’s about the design of the track.”

Asked if low temperatures made matters worse, he added: “The problem is there are not a lot of right-hand corners before that one, so the temperature of the tyre is low.

“Even in the past in hot conditions we’ve seen a lot of crashes.”

Espargaro also doubted it would be feasible to modify the track layout to help keep that side of the tyre warm and therefore reduce the risk of crashing.

“The problem is there no space,” he said. “They try everything, but if we make corner before slower, you have to lean more at the next one.

“For me, Turn 11 will be dangerous anyway, but at least the temperature of the tyre will be higher, so the risk is less.

“This would be a good idea, but I don’t know if we have enough space.”

Dovizioso: Nobody likes this track

Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso was another rider who wasn’t afraid to criticise the Sachsenring track, suggesting the German venue owed its place on the MotoGP schedule to political factors.

“I think that nobody likes this track and many times [there] have been, like this morning in Turn 11, crashes,” said Dovizioso.

“Every rider pushes to not race on this track because it's not nice for riding. But you know better than me the reason why we make a race here over some other place.

“It's a different story, the reason why we race here - but for the riders, for sure, it's not the best track in our championship.”