Why MotoGP's chiefs need to start listening to the riders on sprint issue

On Friday morning at Mugello, MotoGP's chief sporting officer Carlos Ezpeleta turned up to be 'interviewed' on the series' own stream during Free Practice 1. It wasn't hard-hitting journalism, but it was a move that deserves some credit for its proactivity following a horror fortnight for the championship.

While the well-documented events of the Catalan Grand Prix were the clear impetus for his unusual appearance in the commentary box, Daniel Ingham's death at the Isle of Man TT the previous day added another sombre note to the context.

Given the backdrop, Ezpeleta/Dorna/MGPSEG/Liberty (one really does despair following MotoGP's sale last year...) wanted to be seen to be taking safety seriously. To be learning lessons. To be working on improvements. Perhaps even with some urgency.

Ezpeleta sounded genuine as he spoke, and there was no reason to doubt his sincerity as he outlined four areas being looked at in the wake of Barcelona. These included a couple of tweaks that could, in theory, be implemented without waiting around for the new regulations next year. Or, more to the point, waiting around for more first-corner accidents to happen.

The potential quick fixes were a possible redesign of the starting grid and eliminating the holeshot devices used by all teams when the lights turn green. There were also proposals that will probably need longer. Firstly, a possible warning light that would alert riders of a technical problem hitting a bike up ahead. Secondly, some design features aimed at preventing limbs getting tangled up in bikes, which is what happened to Johann Zarco in Spain.

These all sounded like reasonable measures. Yet there was an elephant in the comms box. And if MotoGP's bosses continue to ignore it, they will be open to massive criticism regardless of proactivity elsewhere. 

The uncomfortable truth about sprints

Barcelona was a crash-filled weekend

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Ezpeleta can script as many interviews as he likes, but the men who go out and risk life and limb keep mentioning the one safety issue he'd rather hide behind a raft of less troublesome measures. It's a safety issue that might just hit somebody's pocket, you see. A safety issue that would, in other words, require some real leadership to confront.

It's not exactly a new issue for a paddock that lives in a near-permanent state of exhaustion. It's been touched on in rider press briefings here and there since 2023. But now, with Barcelona fresh in the memory and people like Ezpeleta feeling a degree of public scrutiny, some of MotoGP’s biggest names are coming out and making the link between this issue and big startline accidents clearer.

That issue is the sheer number of race starts these riders are being asked to do in a calendar year. The riders' logic is simple. The start will always be the most accident-prone phase of any race. More starts will mean more riders getting hurt. Essentially, they see it as a straightforward numbers game.

"Risk will always be there. But 44 starts with these bikes is not the best way to minimise the risk. It's good for the show, I understand. But then the riders that put [on the show] are taking a high risk" Marc Marquez

Assuming that nobody in a leadership position would be daring enough to confront the number of race weekends itself, the only way to reduce the number of starts is not to run a sprint every time.

Or maybe not to run sprints at all...

As an aside, riders have in the past repeatedly pointed out a further safety benefit sprint-free Saturdays would bring. Opening up the sprint window for a traditional Saturday qualifying session, and making Friday a non-competitive practice day again, would reduce the number of high-risk laps ridden per weekend. That, in turn, would further cut the chances of riders landing in hospital.

So what's the problem? MotoGP's chiefs are head-over-heels in love with the current format, that's what. There have not been any words to the contrary, at any rate. But why the obsession

The attachment to the format is probably a conviction about what goes into making the best possible show, which by extension might just happen to make the most possible money. Good and well. But it might be worth remembering that wads of cash can't ride these MotoGP machines. In fact, only a handful of humans can do so - and even they can't do it from a hospital bed.

What the riders said at Mugello

MotoGP has held a sprint race at every round since 2023

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

"Risk will always be there," remarked Marc Marquez, whose brother suffered a huge crash in Catalonia. "But 44 starts with these bikes is not the best way to minimise the risk. It's good for the show, I understand. But then the riders that put [on the show] are taking a high risk. Normally, all the crashes, all the dangerous situations are in the first lap or laps, when it's a big group."

Even Fabio Quartararo, who generally has little time for safety talk, sees merit in at least reducing the number of sprints to selected venues. He also reckons that the danger level of the opening corner should be part of the decision-making process.

"I think having sprints at some of the places where the crowds are smaller is an interesting idea," said the Yamaha rider. "But somewhere like Le Mans, where it's always full, do qualifying in the afternoon and no sprint. And at tracks like Barcelona, Silverstone or Austria, where the first corner is complicated, it would be good to do one less start."

Bagnaia, who dreams of uniting the riders on safety matters via some kind of organisation, went a step further by saying the Ezpeleta proposals weren't fit for purpose. After dismissing both a holeshot device ban and a thinner grid layout as solutions, the two-time champion said: "We are doing more crashes because we are starting much more, and we have more races." 

These are some of the most forthright rider remarks on the sprint topic yet - and these are not mouthy rookies speaking. These are the voices of the riders who have won four of the last five world titles. With respect to anybody sitting in a boardroom or, indeed, anyone punching away at a keyboard, they ought to know what they are talking about on this matter.

What doesn't help their cause, however, is that they still can't muster up an F1-style riders' association. There was an above-average turnout at the Safety Commission meeting at Mugello, but the fact that 10 riders stayed away even after the Barcelona drama illustrates the problem. There are competitive interests at play, as well as certain riders who simply have an old-school attitude to risk.

Under the current circumstances, then, there's still no danger of anything like a riders' strike materialising. But an issue as clear-cut as this one shouldn't need to come to that anyway. Ezpeleta's four safety measures are fine - but MotoGP gets zero credit for them if they're just a screen for dodging the sprint factor.

If said boardroom types stick their fingers in their ears and sing a song, instead of listening to what the stars of their show are saying about sprints, they will deserve all the criticism they get the next time something awful happens - particularly if it happens in a Saturday race.

Expect the sprint race debate to rumble on

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images