Crutchlow plays down finger injury

The Tech 3 Yamaha rider suffered a wound to the little finger on his left hand when he slid off at Turn 10.

"I've basically just worn away the edge of my finger, taken my nail off and wore it down to the bone," Crutchlow explained to the official MotoGP website.

"It was quite gruesome to be honest - the whole of the glove came open and I just wore away the little finger. But it's only the 'stubby' so you don't have to use it that much."

Crutchlow said he would have been happy to ride again tonight but for the effects of painkilling medication.

"I'm disappointed not to get back out," he said. "We did it at about 9.00, which meant we had two hours left, but they gave me a numbing injection so the feeling was just numb in my hand so it was too unsafe to go back out.

"I've got to let it rest for a few days too, it's not in a good way - a lot of blood everywhere and not too nice.

"A stupid little crash, seemed exactly the same on Valentino [Rossi]. I lost the rear on the gas, but then shut the throttle and ended up low-siding."

The Briton felt he was making good progress prior to the incident.

"We made quite a big step with the bike as well, so I'm disappointed," said Crutchlow. "We were on old tyres and the lap before I'd just got my fastest lap - on old tyres and with the wind, it bettered yesterday's time.

"So I was disappointed not to get back out, but hopefully we've gone a step in the right direction with the bike and I'm looking forward to Thursday. Get this finger sorted this and get out and do practice."