MotoGP is dragging itself to the finish of its marathon season – and it's not a good look

You could feel the desperation even from afar. Journalists were tossing bait to MotoGP riders, trying to get them to bite, hoping they might get worked up about something. But the racers just couldn’t summon up much in the way of strong opinions at the Portuguese Grand Prix.  

But Thursday’s media session was the 81st press debrief of the season for a full-time rider. And that’s not even counting tests, which would push the number of journalist chats close to triple figures. Who could blame them for sounding a little jaded?  

Not only was there little in the way of spicy opinion, but there was absolutely nothing in the way of hard news at Portimao last weekend either. Even the mercurial Francesco Bagnaia’s speed was middling, which rather reflected the vibe. Like some soap opera whipped into a thirty-third season, MotoGP as a whole simply felt like a tired story played out by knackered people who couldn’t wait for it all to end.

Alex Marquez, for one, was happy to admit just that. “For sure, I’m tired,” he confessed in the pre-weekend press conference.

In its frightening mania to add more races to an already billowing calendar, MotoGP’s event count ventured into the twenties for the first time in its history last weekend. And, inevitably, round 21 was part one of yet another double-header.

MotoGP has grown accustomed to its one-off European finale at Valencia, which is at least close to home for most of the paddock. And MotoGP will no doubt get used to a double-header European finale that comes on top of a longer-than-ever prelude. But that’s only because history shows humans will get used to just about anything when it is forced upon them. Without opening up any cans of worms, let’s just say people putting up with something is no proof that it’s acceptable.

MotoGP is set to end its longest-ever season, one which had the riders' title wrapped up two months' ago

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

For many of those working in the series, who had just completed four successive long-haul races, Portimao must have felt like an unnecessarily cruel twist. Remember that the riders have it relatively easy in terms of working hours – it’s the mechanics, truckies and backroom crews who bear the brunt of relentless expansion. Their weekends run longer than just Thursday to Sunday. That it all takes a particular toll on many of them, as well as any attempts they may make at family life, has already been documented in other forms of motorsport.

Yet here we are, repeating the mistakes of history. And don’t buy lines that this madness stops at 22 events. MotoGP’s Liberty sibling, Formula 1, already cried wolf on that, so watch this space. More races mean more money. The notion of quality over quantity clearly can’t compete with that.

The Portimao weekend felt like a pointless race. What was everybody doing there? Why? 

"We are starting to get to the end of the season and it wears you down a bit because of the intensity of the weekend. We go out in FP1, from the first lap [we’re on a] fast lap, you know? We’re not testing how things are, we just go straight away to fast laps" Miguel Oliveira

Let’s be clear, I don’t ask that question just because all the MotoGP championships have been settled for 2025. A couple of races before the end of last year’s shorter (but still mammoth) season, the feeling was much the same despite a close duel for the title. 

Every week, Dorna’s publicity machine was trying to whip up fever about Jorge Martin versus Bagnaia, a rivalry too polite to generate headlines at the best of times. Repeated over and over, the PR felt ever more forced. This went on to the point that you just wanted to fast-forward to the inevitable showdown.

My words are also no reflection on the Portuguese Grand Prix itself. Portimao is a beautiful venue that deserves to stage its race before such fatigue sets in. Despite the lack of off-track ‘juice’ in Portugal, it was intriguing as a sporting contest. It would have fitted in superbly at the start of the European season, when everything was fresh and fascinating. Cut out a handful of those European races - some countries host four, you know - and you might just have a calendar that wouldn’t overwhelm.

Portugal might be better off with a slot earlier in the season

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Adding to the feeling that this race was little more than an overgrown test was the constant talk of the Valencia test following the finale, not to mention chatter around 2026 and even 2027. Motorsport is nothing if not forward-thinking, but if Luca Marini sacrifices a race weekend to try out mystery “hardware”, it cheapens the event. Across the border, at Aragon, Yamaha was testing its V4 and Toprak Razgatlioglu - and it was telling that this, too, got its share of attention during what was a full round of the world championship.

While we’re at it, having the following season’s first test right after the final race is a terrible advertisement for MotoGP’s sense of perspective or ability to take a breather. Mental health and all that. 

On the subject of health, there is a school of thought that the calendar indirectly adds to the rider injury list. Not just because of the monstrous number of stops on the schedule, but also because of the flat-out nature of the sprint weekend format. There is, quite simply, more track time in which riders have to flirt with the limits. 

Don’t take my word for it. Here is Miguel Oliveira, speaking ahead of his home race last Thursday. 

“We are starting to get to the end of the season and it wears you down a bit because of the intensity of the weekend. We go out in FP1, from the first lap [we’re on a] fast lap, you know? We’re not testing how things are, we just go straight away to fast laps. 

“The intensity is quite high and that takes a toll on us… even on decision-making. You see the type of injuries that we’re getting this season and the amount of riders that are not on the grid… the amount of races where we don’t have the full grid… so I think that [the schedule] may be some factor, yeah.”

The addition of sprint races at every event makes the championship more intense, says Oliveira

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

Ironically, quotes on this topic were among the few useful ones in terms of wrangling a story at Portimao. Bagnaia backed up Oliveira in his own way, also pointing to the sprint factor.

“I think from the moment we had the sprint races, we never had full grid, more or less,” said the double MotoGP champion. “[On sprint weekends], we make two starts; the starts are the moment where we can have more incidents.

“The stress is something that we are able to manage, but in a long season like this, with 22 races, it can happen that we have some incidents. With a calendar like this one, if you crash in one race, you [miss the next] one.” 

"After the Asian tour, it’s always difficult to come back to Europe and feel 100% [in terms of] physical condition. Normally, we have just Valencia, but this year will be more challenging because after 20 races the body starts to feel that pressure" Alex Marquez

Bagnaia did not, however, go so far as to say there were too many races. “The calendar is good like this, but we need to get used to trying to approach it in a different way, maybe,” he said.

Do the marketing people at Liberty care about the fact that seeing the full grid of riders fit and available for a race is about as frequent as a lunar eclipse? In a world where a thumb pausing briefly at your three-second reel may count as ‘attention’, I wouldn’t profess to know.

But if those marketers are bothered, it’s time they woke up to the fact that this isn’t F1. Motorcycle riders get hurt and they always will. Every lap they ride on the limit is an injury waiting to happen. Motorcycle racers also need a proper off-season to recover.

Like MotoGP, F1 is hosting a record number of races

Photo by: Ozan Kose / AFP via Getty Images

“After the Asian tour, it’s always difficult to come back to Europe and feel 100% [in terms of] physical condition,” Marquez pointed out pre-weekend. “Normally, we have just Valencia, but this year will be more challenging because after 20 races the body starts to feel that pressure.”

It is a curiosity that although the riders are open about the implications of the schedule, they won’t come out and say the number of races should be cut. Have they been briefed? Are they wary of complaining when they are seen to have one of the best jobs in the world? 

Team bosses tend also to be muted on this topic, reflecting at most the paddock’s masochistic tendency to bask in the toughness of it all in the way a nostalgic ex-marine might. Indeed, team principals are more likely to have the financial picture at the front of their minds, of course. Also, maybe they’re just realistic enough to know nothing’s going to change.

Even an optimist in this matter will have to concede that things will be no more reasonable in 2026. The calendar is already out and once again bears 22 races. The Portimao/Valencia double-header remains as well, though it’s a week later than this year and thus set to cut back the off-season even further. Autosport wishes all the teams and riders well in surviving it.

Will MotoGP go beyond 22 rounds in the future?

Photo by: Asif Zubairi / Motorsport Network