Behind-the-scenes: Inside a MotoGP safety commission conversation

New footage from BT Sport has gone inside a meeting to see exactly how riders communicate…

Aleix Espargaro: “I don’t know who tried the long lap penalty but we need to be more precise.”

Aleix Espargaro: “I cannot put my foot on the front device at the start.”

Jack Miller is shrugging.

Aleix Espargaro: “Because I cannot do a stoppie. I cannot do the front device.”

Jack Miller: “That’s your problem, then…”

Aleix Espargaro: “But if somebody brakes in front of you during the warm-up lap, it’s stupid to try that. The warm-up lap is the warm-up lap - it’s not a test lap.”

Loris Capirossi, the ex-champion who works in MotoGP race direction, said to BT: “It is 20 years that we’ve had the safety commission. We work together with every rider to try to improve every race track. Maybe the surface, maybe the run-off area, maybe the gravel. We have really good communication. We follow the feelings of the riders.

“We try, everywhere, to have the same gravel but it isn’t 100 percent possible. The small gravel is better for us. The feeling of the riders is that when they crash on the wrong gravel, they complain about that.

“We propose two or three different things. The riders say: ‘For us, proposal No 2 is the best’.

“We work with the circuits to improve.”

Asked if MotoGP can ever be 100% safe, Capirossi admitted: “No, I don’t think so. Don’t forget, the speed is a lot. 100% safe? No.”

Will riders always have to take risks to be fast? Capirossi said: “The limit is at 100% but if you want to win, you have to ride at 99% always. If you ride at 98%? You are slow.”