Crutchlow: Foot is swollen, black, broken underneath the ankle

Despite the severe injury which has left the official Yamaha test rider with a ‘swollen and black’ right foot, Crutchlow continued on during Saturday at the Thailand MotoGP.

Even more impressive was the pace shown by Crutchlow as he made appearances inside the top ten during Free Practice 4, before going on to qualify in 15th place. 

Speaking after qualifying, Crutchlow made no bones about the extent of his injury, saying: "Foot is not great. Swollen, black and broken just underneath the ankle. It seems like it’s cracked.

"I can walk and I can run to an extent. I made sure I can run because if I need to get off the track I need to be able to run. I don’t need to be here so in the end you need to make sure it’s safe to ride. 

"I didn’t sleep very well last night, throbbing all night, ice, trying to get the inflammation down. I was concerned because I thought my plates had broken or something. I knew immediately when I hit the floor that something had happened. 

"It’s painful but I feel okay on the bike. When the adrenaline gets going - I have some strapping on it as well to try and hold it, but I still need to be able to move it because I use the rear brake a lot. The rest of the body feels probably worse than the ankle. Everything is cut or bruised."

Since making his return Crutchlow has been very impressive, scoring points in both Aragon and Motegi, while often lapping close to that of Franco Morbidelli, if not quicker.

However, the Brit feels results haven’t showcased just how much potential he has aboard the RNF Yamaha, saying: "Considering I didn’t race for one year it’s not so bad and honestly, a lot of things have been against us with regards to the result. 

"I think we could have been a lot better and this weekend we’ve obviously had crashes which was not good. 

"I actually crashed just before which was completely stupid because I went in the blue [paint] like Marc [Marquez] in the morning and I looked over my shoulder and crashed. Anyway, when I crashed yesterday it was because I was pushing."