The physical capabilities of MotoGP riders were tested on the series' first visit to the Buddh International Circuit last weekend, with Jorge Martin requiring medical intervention after suffering from dehydration and several others reporting a burning-like sensation in the throat due to high temperatures and humidity in Delhi.
The race had already been cut short by three laps on safety grounds, but it remained a tough challenge for riders, who felt the conditions were even worse than what they face in other circuits near the equator such as Sepang and Mandalika.
Espargaro, who is yet to fully recover from the fractures he sustained in the Portuguese season-opener, said he felt “weak” during the race and had to turn down his pace just to make it to the finish.
The Spanish rider agreed with the suggestion that MotoGP should reduce the length of other races if the temperature gets too high, having felt the conditions in India on Sunday were “over the limit”.
“We cannot face these kinds of conditions, it's pretty tricky,” he said.
“We just put a sensor on the bike, on the fuel tank. It's where we breathe in the straights and it was like 65C. So the air is coming toward our body. So you can imagine this is hard.
“Also because it was one of the longer races on the calendar. Like, for example, in Barcelona we took 38 minutes to make the race and to make this distance here it was about 42.5 minutes.
Source: Autosport