British MotoGP Sprint runner-up Marco Bezzecchi said the 10-lap race could not have gone ahead if the conditions at Silverstone had remained as treacherous as they were during qualifying.
Bezzecchi was among the fallers in qualifying, but still managed to secure pole position on the VR46 Ducati.
The Italian rider, who is second in the championship – 27 points behind Francesco Bagnaia going into Sunday’s main race – said he was aquaplaning at high speed on the straights.
Bezzecchi felt running qualifying in the earlier heavy rain was ‘dangerous’, with visibility issues a major cause for concern.
“It was a bit dangerous to be honest,” he said.
“Not too much in the corners but in all the straights that this track has, I was having a lot of aquaplaning and rear spinning.
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“It was difficult to control because you are full gas, and you cannot do anything. Also, where I crashed was a point where there was a lot of water.
“In the qualifying, maybe it was okay; it was on the limit but okay. But if we had to start the Sprint like this then it was too dangerous because the view was nothing.”
Bezzecchi suffered a heavy spill at Turn 5 under braking. Bagnaia plus Luca Marini and Sprint race winner Alex Marquez were also caught out in the atrocious conditions.
Overall, though, Bezzecchi said he was happy with a ‘positive’ day as he closed the title gap to Bagnaia.
“I’m happy because today was a positive day for me,” he said. “The pole position and also the podium.
“I’m happy because I didn’t expect such difficult conditions in the race, I expected all wet or dry, but it was very mixed, and I couldn’t put the slick.
“I tried to manage at the beginning, and managing the tyre, but I was really warming up a lot of temperature, so when I started to push to try to catch Alex I was not fast enough.
“I arrived very close but anyway, very happy. The team made an unbelievable job after this morning, rebuilding the bike, so thanks to them,” he added.
“I hope it will be a dry race [on Sunday] and I prefer because it’s a lot more fun. It’s nice to race in this track, so I hope to enjoy in the dry, so I will try my best.”
The 2023 Monster Energy British Grand Prix starts at 13:00 local time/22:00 AEST Sunday August 6.
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