r/motogp

“The Pirelli tyres are super grippy and with a little bit less torque on the bottom, you can rush a little bit in the apex.
“The bike is more than 10kg lighter, so the change of direction is super good.

Oh this sounds wonderful for Marc because he’ll be able to throw that bike into corners like his Honda days again.

Hot take: Acosta is genuinely the most exciting rider on the grid right now and if KTM had their act together he'd already be leading the championship.

The guy is consistently up there in sprints, he's doing it on a bike that clearly isn't the best package, and people still talk about him like he's "promising" as if he isn't already outperforming half the factory riders. At what point do we stop calling it potential and just admit he's the real deal?

Fight me.

The article discusses how the multiple crashes, red flags, and confusion surrounding the restart procedures at the Catalan GP have reignited debate among MotoGP riders about whether a stronger riders’ organization is needed. Although the Safety Commission already exists, the article introduces opinions suggesting that MotoGP should create a more independent and influential formal riders’ association, similar to F1’s GPDA. At the same time, it also points out the practical difficulty of achieving unity among MotoGP riders, since they have different personalities and competing interests.

The following is an excerpt from the article. Please refer to the original article for the full context.

[…]

Later in the afternoon, everyone agreed that the proper decision would have been to cancel the Grand Prix, given that they were not in the right mental condition to race. However, that consensus was not strong enough to challenge the organizers’ decision to continue with the scheduled program. The outcome would probably have been different if the riders had spoken out collectively, all together, under an organization that represented them. In other words, the much-discussed riders’ association that has been talked about for several years now, but for various reasons has never fully materialized.

Individualism, the lack of cohesion, and the absence of a collective mentality are probably the clearest reasons why. That impression is reinforced by complaints from several riders on the grid regarding the poor attendance at the Friday Safety Commission meetings. In those meetings, riders sit at the same table as the organizers and privately discuss any issues that concern them.

“It doesn’t matter whether we are friends or not. What matters is that we respect each other. When there are important things like the Safety Commission, we have to attend, period. We are the ones who know and can identify where the limits are. And if we believe something is serious enough that we should not race, then we have to say so. But if only three riders show up to the Safety Commission, that takes away a lot of our influence,” lamented Francesco Bagnaia, referring to the previous Friday at Le Mans, where only he, Jack Miller, and Luca Marini attended the meeting.

It was precisely there that an immediate rule change regarding pit lane entry was agreed upon, following an incident involving Marc Márquez at the previous round in Jerez.

“I’ve always believed those kinds of changes should be made at the end of the season. But what influence are we going to have if only three of us think that way?” Bagnaia complained.

[…]

The closest MotoGP ever came to establishing such a F1’s GPDA was in 2023. At the time, the grid agreed that Sylvain Guintoli was the right person to act as representative and spokesperson. However, the process collapsed when discussions turned to where the funding for the organization would come from.

It is also worth noting that people within Dorna Sports viewed the initiative with some suspicion because of the potential counterweight it could create.

“MotoGP riders are different from Formula 1 drivers. Here, everyone looks after themselves, and they fail to recognize an obvious fact: united, they would have much greater strength and could achieve far more for the common good. It’s a matter of culture and awareness,” an agent representing several riders told Motorsport.com.

“With this mentality, they will always be at a disadvantage in any dispute or confrontation with Dorna,” the source added.

The pillars that support the championship are the promoter, the manufacturers, the teams, and the riders. The promoter naturally holds the most power. The manufacturers have the MSMA, and the teams have IRTA. The only group still left exposed are the riders themselves — the main gladiators of this circus and, paradoxically, also the ones most at risk in every sense.