Jag tycker David Emmett (som vanligt) summerar läget klokt:
”It is clear that the new Suzuki will need a lot of development. If the times quoted by the German website Speedweek are correctly, test rider Randy de Puniet was 2 seconds off the pole time, and 1,4 seconds off the fastest lap in the race.
Those 2 seconds are very expensive to overcome, the cost rising exponentially as the gap gets smaller. The first second may cost several millions to close, the second could take many tens of millions, as Ducati is currently showing.
Does Suzuki have the experience and engineering ability to close the gap? Almost certainly. Do they have the funds to be able to dedicate those skills to actually achieving that? That is where the doubt lies.”
Jag tror att valet av förare lär ge en fingervisning om huruvida Suzuki verkligen är kapabla och motiverade. Men nog framstår det som i stort sett uteslutet att någon annan än Crutchlow blir Suzukis försteförare?