A lack of run off at its famous hairpin plus other safety problems would prevent the Japanese MotoGP round being switched from Twin-Ring Motegi to Suzuka should the rider uprising, or another incident at Fukushima, mean the current venue could not be used.

Suzuka was taken off the calendar in 2004 when Daijiro kato was killed in an horrific crash the year before where he hit a barrier going into the final chicane at around 120mph and succumbed to severe head injuries after spending two weeks in a coma. It has undergone some renovation but problems with run-off at the hairpin remain.

"The FIM checked new Suzuka circuit, and FIM is not happy. For several things. Hairpin corner run off zone is not enough, or something. I forget the exact details. Now course license, before Suzuka was secnd, now they give us third rank license. Regulation is clearly showing we can race only on grade A, A1 and B. Suzuka is third," said HRC boss Shuei Nakamoto.

"The original layout remains but after the hairpin, the very high speed turn, that corner now has a chicane, the chicane is only used for motorcycle races, Formula 1 never used it. Some areas have also been modified, and access roads is now 100% vehicle access, before this was not so. West and south was a different access road, but now you can go all the way round.

"Suzuka doesn't have a license, class B license. So if FIM make a lot of requests for changes, we can't do everything. A good example is the hairpin, the run off zone is too close, but there is already a road around there, we cannot make it any further back."