Smith doing his homework

Bradley Smith believes rider skill will play a much bigger role in 2016, with the Briton the only rider at last week’s Sepang showdown to complete a full 20-lap race simulation. Smith, who finished 10th fastest overall, told MCN: “I think for the first two thirds of the race we’ll probably be able to go harder than we did on the Bridgestones. The final third is a different story because when the new Michelin tyres do go off, it is a lot more sensitive. It shows the weakness of the electronics, but this is what we wanted. We didn’t want the racing to be so mechanical. We wanted it to be harder.”