---
title: "Why Crutchlow edges Hamilton as Britain’s top racer"
canonical: "https://readmotorsport.com/2016/10/24/crutchlow-edges-hamilton-britains-top-racer/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Lewis Duncan"
section: "F1 News"
published: "2016-10-24T19:23:08Z"
modified: "2016-10-29T01:55:31Z"
---

# Why Crutchlow edges Hamilton as Britain’s top racer

Cal Crutchlow made yet more history on Sunday when he won his second Grand Prix of the season in Australia, becoming the first Brit to win in the country in any class and the first since 1979 to win more than one in a season in the top tier.

Britain have been dominating world motorsport of late. Last year we saw Danny Kent win the Moto3 World Championship, the first for a British rider since 1976 in any class. Lewis Hamilton took his third F1 world title last year, while Jonathan Rea strolled to his first WorldSBK championship. In 2016 Hamilton has won seven races, Rea is on the cusp of a second title and Kris Meeke is a double winner in the WRC, not to mention John McPhee and Sam Lowes have taken victories in the cut-throat Moto3 and Moto2 World Championships as well.

![Mark Thompson/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2016/10/617619808.jpg)

Despite this, only Hamilton has made any dent on the mainstream press. Understandably, the likes of Kent, McPhee and Lowes you wouldn’t expect to see on the back pages, though Meeke has had regular front page coverage in the motorsport publications this year. Bafflingly, Crutchlow’s historic Brno win and his Phillip Island success have gone largely unnoticed. This is infuriating, because the British rider has been the star of UK motorsport in 2016.

The MotoGP World Championship is an incredibly bloodthirsty sport, it’s the most competitive it has been in years. This season alone we’ve had eight different winners on four different makes of bike. In over 60 years of Grand Prix racing never have we had eight riders win a race, and you have to go back to 2007 for the last time four manufacturers notched up victories in a season. That’s not to mention the fact that three of those wins have come on customer, slightly behind-the-curve bikes.

Crutchlow is on one of those satellite machines, and his wins have not been flukes either. In the Czech Republic a brave decision to run the harder wet front tyre on a drying track paid off hugely. At a dry Phillip Island last weekend, the Briton had the pace to match Marc Marquez and pull away from Valentino Rossi when Marquez crashed out. Crutchlow also fairly secured second at his home race at Silverstone after battling hard with the likes of Marquez and Rossi.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2016/10/593232266.jpg)

It’s also worth mentioning that Crutchlow is 31 years old and didn’t start riding motorcycles untill he was 11. This is compared to the 20-somethings he’s going up against and beating now, who’ve been racing bikes since their mother’s first ultrasound and have been nurtured by the biggest manufacturers in Grand Prix racing. This isn’t bad for a rider who came through the British and World ranks in Supersport and Superbikes before getting his MotoGP break in 2011.

Crutchlow’s win in Australia exemplified why he is one of the sport’s best. Like Marquez, Crutchlow went for the hard front tyre which meant he had to push to keep the heat in it or suffer the same fate as the Spaniard and later Aleix Espargaro at an ice cold Phillip Island. Bravely admitting after the race that he was ‘terrified’ when Marquez fell off, he still made sure his front had the temperature it needed and opened out a four-second lead to cruise to the finish with.

What I admire about Crutchlow is his resilience, his unwillingness to give up but also his acceptance when he knows he simply wasn’t good enough. If it wasn’t for his thick skin, the Briton would likely still be mired in the horror show that was the first half of his season. Between Qatar and Germany, Crutchlow retired four times and had just 20 points to his name. Since the race at the Sachsenring he has racked up 121 points, two wins, two seconds, two fifths, an eighth and a 15th. In fact, the LCR rider has scored just four fewer points than Marquez since the midway point of the season. That is incredible given that he is on a customer bike and a pretty poorly one at that.

Compare this with his aforementioned contemporaries and you begin to see why Crutchlow should be held in such high regard this year. Hamilton, for example, has the best car in F1 and should be expected to be winning on a regular basis as he is a three-time champion. Meeke has only contested several WRC events this season and at a time when the series isn’t massively competitive, whilst Rea has been on the best bike in WorldSBK for most of the year.

I hastened to add that I am not disrespecting these achievements; they are commendable in their own right. But they’ve all had helping hands, whether it be through machinery or the state of the championship they contest. Crutchlow hasn’t had the best bike on the grid and MotoGP is extraordinarily competitive; to race alongside and sometimes beat the likes of Marquez, Rossi and Lorenzo, a trio who share 19 titles, is beyond difficult. To do it on fair terms, like he did in Australia, on an underwhelming motorcycle is simply stunning.

![Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images Sport](https://media.readmotorsport.com/readmotorsport/2016/10/617328152.jpg)

I’d argue that Crutchlow is one of the best sportsmen we have: he’s fast, determined and a top bloke, not once letting the trappings of fame rush to his head unlike some. In motorsport, I say with quite some conviction that he has been the star of 2016 and long may his reign at the front of the field last.