Get ready for a bumpy ride because we are heading into the longest, weirdest season in grand prix history.
Twenty-two grands prix over 39 weekends, from Buriram this Sunday to Valencia in late November.
The death of one era, simultaneous with the genesis of another, the big aero 1000s superseded by the shrunken 850s.
And the most volatile rider market since the story started back in 1949.
Today’s 1000s will reverberate through history because there will never be a more powerful MotoGP bike. It won’t be allowed. We may hate them now, for their clever-but-stupid ride-height devices, but in decades to come, people won’t believe that riders were allowed to race 300-horsepower motorcycles around Mugello, Jerez and Le Mans.
Glory to the 1000s, but it won’t be long before they are ignored by their creators, who now have new toys to play with. Like Henry VIII with a new wife.
The 850s are the nubile gatecrashers at the 1000s leaving party — MotoGP engineers won’t know which way to look and neither will the riders. They all know they need to focus on the present to triumph in the present, but how not to get distracted by the future?
The big day comes in June, when MotoGP’s full-time riders will be allowed to ride the Pirelli 850s for the first time, the day after the Czech GP. That one-day test at Brno will be followed by a second mid-season outing, at Red Bull Ring, the day after September’s Austrian GP.
And this is when things will get really weird, because not all full-time riders will get to ride the 850s.
What?! Is this some kind of stitch-up?
Bagnaia and Marc Márquez – if Bagnaia goes to Aprilia for 2027 he will most likely miss two vital days of Pirelli 850 testing
Not exactly. Blame the collision between MotoGP’s biggest-ever rules rewrite and an all-time most volatile rider market, with 19 of 22 riders out of contract at the end of this year.
Those riders who are staying with the same manufacturer for 2027 are the lucky ones. Those who are moving from one brand to another will be wailing and gnashing their teeth.
It’s obvious, isn’t it? Let’s assume Ducati’s most successful MotoGP rider Pecco Bagnaia is indeed on his way to Aprilia, to ride the RS-GP next year.
If you were Ducati Corse boss Gigi Dall’Igna, would you allow Bagnaia to ride your prototype 2027 Desmosedici at Brno and Red Bull Ring, so he can experience your latest brainwaves, then pass them to his new employers at Noale? Only a fool would do such a thing and Dall’Igna is no fool.
And if you were Dall’Igna, would you grant Bagnaia an exemption from his Ducati contract, so he can ride Aprilia’s prototype 850 RS-GP at Brno and Red Bull Ring, giving his great rivals a helping hand for 2027? He would have to have taken leave of his senses to say yes.
Of course, manufacturers usually (but not always) grant departing riders early release from their contracts so they can test with their new employers immediately after the season-ending Valencia GP. But June and September in the middle of the season are VERY different to November after the last race of the season.
Dall’Igna will find out that this scenario works both ways. Will KTM boss Pit Beirer allow Pedro Acosta to evaluate a KTM 850 if he’s on his way to Ducati in 2027? Will Beirer release Acosta from his current deal, so he can try Dall’Igna’s 850? Surely that’s a no and a no.
Most years, missing two days of testing wouldn’t be the end of the world, because year on year, motorcycles and tyres change a bit but not much. Any half-decent rider and engineer would soon catch up.
Miller may benefit from the fact that Yamaha will most likely have an all-new factory line-up for 2027
Michelin
Not this time. The 850s will be totally different motorcycles running on totally different tyres, the biggest overnight change in eight decades of MotoGP engineering. Development mileage is therefore vital, so engineers can listen to rider feedback and improve their machines. The same goes for riders. They need as many miles as they can to get their heads around the new bikes and tyres and adjust their riding techniques accordingly.
What riders and manufacturers learn during those first two days of Pirelli 850 testing will have a significant effect on development direction. Thus, MotoGP’s big game of musical chairs could help determine which manufacturers create the best 850s and which riders really get the hang of the new bikes.
Perhaps factory management will sit down with each other to thrash out a kind of gentleman’s agreement that exempts riders who are on the move from their current contracts.
Hmm, maybe, but are there any gentlemen left in the MotoGP pitlane? Erm, yes, here and there, but modern sport is not kind to gentlemen. History remembers the winners, not the decent, honest and reasonable. They are forgotten, like they never even existed.
In which case, the manufacturers are surely brainstorming this little twist to the rider market right now.
For example, both Honda’s current factory riders – Luca Marini and Joan Mir – are out of contract at the end of December. If the Quartararo rumours are correct, one of them has already lost their job for 2027, so perhaps HRC would be wise to keep the other, rather than replace both and have no factory riders to test their 850? Or will they leave that up to LCR’s Johann Zarco? Seems unlikely.
Same – but different – goes for Yamaha, who is affected by this scenario despite the fact it’s the only manufacturer that can go testing pretty much as often as it likes (because it’s the only one in MotoGP’s bottom concessions ranking). Quartararo is on his way to Honda and Álex Rins seems unlikely to keep his ride, which could be good news for Pramac‘s Jack Miller, because he will be Yamaha’s only rider of any experience to test the 850.
Honda would be wise to keep one of its current factory riders to help its 850-testing programme – will it choose Joan Mir or Luca Marini?
You can see why there must be an impending sense of panic descending on some factory bosses.
At the same time, how good must the riders and manufacturers that are staying together for 2027 feel right now – Ducati and Marc Márquez, Aprilia and Marco Bezzecchi and so on? Just by sitting tight, they’ve given themselves a nice little advantage going into 2027.
But first, they’ve got to get through this year. The 2026 season runs to 22 races, same as last year, but this is the longest MotoGP campaign in history, spanning 39 weeks.
From Thailand to Brazil, USA, Qatar, Spain, France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Czech Republic, Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Austria, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Portugal and finally Spain.
HRC technical director Romano Albesiano tells us why the RC213V is getting faster and what computer-modelling has told him about MotoGP’s new 850s
By
Mat Oxley
How things have changed. If we go back 50 years, to the long, hot summer of 1976, when Barry Sheene reigned supreme, the MotoGP season covered ten events and 19 weekends, from the end of April to the end of August. Easy life! Not really — four riders were killed during the 1976 grand prix season, two at Mugello and two at the Isle of Man TT.
And Sheene’s 1976 season was much more complicated than 10 GPs over 19 weekends. Back then, riders literally lost money at every grand prix they contested. The promoters paid derisory money because they knew the riders had to compete at grands prix, because their world championship status decided how much money they were paid at the sometimes hugely profitable non-championship events.
Thus Sheene’s full 1976 season counted 24 events over 34 weekends, from early March to the end of October.
Imagine doing this lot with no private jets, few motorways, living like gypsies: from Daytona, USA (Formula 750) to San Carlos, Venezuela (F750), to Imola, Italy (F750), to Brands Hatch, UK (Transatlantic Match Races), to Mallory Park, UK (Transatlantic), to Oulton Park, UK (Transatlantic), to Le Mans (French GP), to Salzburgring (Austrian GP), to Cadwell, UK (MCN superbike championship), to Mugello (Italian GP), to Brands (MCN superbike), to Chimay, Belgium (non-championship roadrace), to Mallory (MCN superbike), to Assen (Dutch TT), to Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium GP), to Snetterton, UK (MCN superbike), to Anderstorp (Swedish GP), to Brands (MCN superbike), to Silverstone, UK (F750), to Oulton (MCN superbike), to Scarborough, UK (MCN superbike), to Mallory (MCN superbike, to Cadwell, (MCN superbike), and finally to Brands Hatch (MCN superbike).
Were the good old days really the good old days? In some ways, yes, in other ways, no.
My predictions for 2026? Marc Márquez world champion, the rest fighting for the honour of being first loser. Unless something horrible happens. Which isn’t impossible.
