How to make two MotoGP grids with a single qualifying session

Over the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, Autosport broke news of plans for sprint and grand prix qualifying to be separated in MotoGP.

In principle, it's a welcome development. When sprints landed in 2023, the emphasis on a single qualifying lap went a little over the top. A rider making a mistake - or suffering bad luck - would pay for it twice over. So, yes, bring on the separate grids.

But how will that be done in practice, given the already frenetic MotoGP weekend schedule? Details of how the split might actually look are still being thrashed out, but the press pack inevitably began quizzing riders as to their thoughts on the subject at Spielberg.

One of the more thoughtful opinions volunteered came, as is so often the case, from Francesco Bagnaia. He suggested that MotoGP adapt the current Supersport system and use the fastest lap from the sprint race to determine the grid for the 'feature race'.

While certainly interesting, and possibly successful in that championship, it's really difficult to imagine that working in MotoGP without chaos and controversy. In theory, the riders would race the sprint as normal, then let the lap times come as a surprise when they get to parc ferme. In practice, they know world titles can be won and lost on grid positions. It's unrealistic to expect them to remain out of mind in any context. Riders would be thinking about getting a fast lap on the board - and constantly looking at their dashes to get the latest. And if you want to know why looking at your dash can be a distraction in a sprint race, just ask Pedro Acosta...

Qualifying on Friday: a simple rebrand?

Bagnaia's suggestion about sprint fastest laps is not among his better ones. But it was easy to agree with his view that a new sprint qualifying should not appear on Fridays. The first day already features a competitive session as riders chase the Q2 cut. With safety and fatigue on their minds, most of the MotoGP paddock would in fact prefer Friday to return to being a pure 'untimed' preparation day.

Of course, that hour-long Friday Practice, which is currently a weird mix of race preparation followed by time-chasing, could be rebranded into sprint qualifying. Or, more logically, it could officially be split into FP2 and sprint qualifying, perhaps 40 and 20 minutes respectively. No extra track time, a ready-made sprint grid and Saturday could stay as it is - just turn the current FP2 into FP3. It's not the worst of the options available.

Saturday sessions: treat with caution

Given that MotoGP is expected to retain the Saturday afternoon slot for its sprint races, another possibility might be to run two separate qualifying sessions on the Saturday morning. Even if this somehow replaced the current Q1/Q2 system, it hardly embraces the spirit of reducing risk and competitive track time either. It would be two sessions featuring a full field, instead of two sessions with around half the field each.

"If the organisation wants to do it like F1, then they should cut several sprints" Fabio Quartararo

It would also be another terrific opportunity to confuse fans. Barely will one grid sink in before the next one shoves it out of mind. Journalists keep track of all these different sessions and grids using spreadsheets, but the powers-that-be are deluded if they think casual viewers are going to fire up Microsoft Excel with their morning coffee on a weekend. Some might just walk away.

Consider one reader's comment on the story after it broke on our sister site Motorsport.com: "I'm a huge MotoGP fan but I barely have time to catch the qualifying and sprint race on a Saturday as it is. Especially if other sports I like are on that weekend. Do the people running these sports think the rest of us have no life or jobs or anything else to watch and do?"

How about one session that makes two separate grids?

My proposal for producing separate grids is nothing original. It's been seen in many motorsport categories: use the second-fastest laps in qualifying to determine the sprint line-up. Doing it this way avoids adding any extra sessions, though you could certainly extend the length a little. It would also add a little more weight to those 'banker' laps early in the session.

You could certainly accuse this idea of being confusing too. Especially if commentators and graphics people try to tell the story of both grid battles at the same time. That would be incomprehensibly complex. My hope, however, is that they would draw the line at that level of storytelling.

Setting the grid for both the grand prix and the sprint in one qualifying session could be the solution

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Adding a second story that is too much to process live might ensure the focus remains entirely on the grand prix qualifying battle. The sprint grid would get passing mentions, maybe, but only come in for attention when the riders are back in parc ferme. Doing it like this puts the sprint in its place, which is a good thing in a way. After all, the grand prix is supposed to be the main event.

Whether they still want to incorporate the whole Top 10/Q1/Q2 thing into all of this will be another matter being thrashed out around the negotiating table. Autosport understands there are even stakeholders pushing for a Q3 to be added. While the crazy idea of just inviting all entrants directly into qualifying is indeed still out there as an option, you're probably best off standing by for further complexity...

Why are we doing this, again?

If you're starting to understand why we landed up with one session and a repeated grid in the first place, I'm with you. Once you take it as read that we must have sprints every weekend and that separate grids are the aim, it's surprisingly hard to think of a perfect solution that works for everyone.

Not for the first time, Fabio Quartararo questioned one of those key premises: “If the organisation wants to do it like F1, then they should cut several sprints,” he said after the news broke. That's a reference to the fact that Formula 1 doesn't (yet) insist on sprints at every event, as MotoGP so mulishly does. And the fact that Liberty Media now runs both shows.

Simply cutting the number of sprints opens up other acceptable options for riders and teams. An extra session becomes more palatable if it's only on selected weekends and balanced out by less intense, sprint-free schedules elsewhere.

“They could reduce the number of sprints during the year and, at the races that have them, add that second qualifying session,” Bagnaia was happy to concede.

However, it's now abundantly clear that the decision-makers have little to zero interest in rider opinions on such matters. Nor in anything that could threaten weekend-long engagement and jeopardy. So whichever way they go, it will be a surprise if it's not a triumph of quantity over everything else.