LCR Honda rider Cal Crutchlow has hit out at team-mate Takaaki Nakagami, saying the Japanese rider doesn't deserve a works Honda bike next year.
Nakagami and Honda have yet to agree a contract extension for 2020, with the matter of a works bike believed to be the sticking point, but Crutchlow says Honda are right not to heed his demands as he hasn't done enough to justify the upgrade.
"No, he doesn't deserve it I don't think," the Briton is quoted as saying by Autosport when asked if Nakagami deserved a works Honda bike next season.
"But at the moment I'm not going to really say anything good about him at the moment because my relationship with him is not fantastic, but it's Honda's decision.
"I don't think he deserves it, no. He's had one fifth place in all the grands prix. It's Honda's decision, he's Japanese, it's good for him to be riding a Honda.
"As I've always said all year, he's complaining about his bike not being the same as what we have now, but I honestly believe he'd be slower on our bike than what he is now."
Nakagami tested a 2019 machine in Barcelona and lapped the track six tenths quicker than he did during the Catalan Grand Prix, but Crutchlow put that improvement down to tyres.
"Just because he went faster in the Barcelona test means nothing; he also had a tyre that was worth one second a lap."
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