MotoGP
Farewell Phillip Island, you’ve been great!
This weekend MotoGP says a sad farewell to its greatest circuit, renowned for creating the closest racing in the series’ history
The 2026 MotoGP title is now Márquez’s to lose but he has a new battle to fight
MotoGP
What was Jorge Martin’s real mistake in the Phillip Island sprint which transformed the championship in Marc Márquez’s favour? And why riders shouldn’t stand for Liberty’s ridiculous new rules which threaten riders with track penalties for missing promo events
Title fighters Márquez and Martin go head-to-head at Phillip Island
MotoGP
The Phillip Island weather had the last laugh at the weekend – cursing MotoGP for dumping its finest racetrack by unleashing a Sunday of horrible weather.
Thus fans were denied the chance to enjoy the world’s greatest motorcycle racers do battle around the world’s greatest racetrack one last time.
At least Saturday’s sprint was a joy to watch. Finally, we got to see the championship’s fastest duo go head-to-head, no quarter asked, none given: drafting, out-braking, running wide, cutting back around PI’s glorious curves.
There were only two points between them at the start and championship leader Jorge Martin went at it like it was the season finale, as if whoever won this race would be the champion.
That made for an unforgettable confrontation, even if it only lasted seven and a half laps.
Martin’s biggest mistake wasn’t touching the outside kerb entering Turn 8, which unsettled his Aprilia, so that when he flicked the bike on its side the front tyre couldn’t cope. His biggest mistake was risking too much, when only three points separate finishing first and second in a sprint.
Of course, the 2024 champion wanted to show Marc Márquez who’s boss, to prove to himself that he could beat him in hand-to-hand combat. Because if Martin had beaten the reigning champion, he would’ve carried that psychological bonus into the final few races. But he got too carried away with that desire.
His first attack, at Turn 4 on lap three, immediately sent him wide, allowing Márquez to cut back into the lead. Six corners later he was back in front and this time he made it stick.
Martin stayed in front for a lap and a half, before running wide and nearly falling at Turn 4 on lap five. That put Márquez back in front, but not for long.
Aprilia’s RS-GP is at its best through fast, sweeping corners, so Martin was right on the Ducati’s back wheel as they rocketed past the pits to start lap six, allowing him to dive past Márquez at Turn 1. But that compromised his like into Turn 2, running him a fraction wide. Márquez nipped past on the inside and stayed out front until the start of lap eight.
Martin dives inside Márquez at Turn 4 on lap three. He didn’t stay there long
MotoGP
Once again, Martin dived past at Turn 1 and once again he ran wide at Turn 2, allowing Márquez to once again slice through on the inside, both tyres sliding. Same again at Turn 4: Martin past on the brakes, wide, Márquez cuts back into the lead.
Then four corners later, Martin was rag-dolling through the Turn 8 gravel trap, that searing wave of pain from his fractured wrist instantly telling him what we didn’t yet know: his championship hopes were most likely done.
A decade ago, it would’ve been Márquez riding like that, hurling his Honda past rivals, without a care in the world, until…
Mr Maximum Risk has transmogrified into Mr Minimum Risk
You live and learn.
Márquez is a very different motorcycle racer these days. Especially this year, when his much-mangled right arm and shoulder make him so fragile that Mr Maximum Risk has transmogrified into Mr Minimum Risk, a man who chooses his battles very carefully.
While Martin was in full-attack mode, Márquez was calculating. Lap four was the secret to his success. He spent that lap behind the Aprilia, watching, waiting and learning.
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“The key point of the race was when Jorge led one lap,” he said. “I understood a few things and also I understood that he was fast but he was taking a lot of risks, because he was shaking a lot and overriding a bit. So at that point, I understood: okay, let’s see, it’s time to take risks. It’s true that with 13 laps at that level it would’ve been very difficult for both of us to finish the race, but he made the mistake.”
That lap behind Martin told Márquez where he must make the lap time and where he must defend, if he was able to retake the lead. And that’s exactly what he did whenever he got ahead, taking defensive lines that made it difficult for Martin to make successful attacks.
This confrontation was somewhat reminiscent of Laguna Seca 2008, when Valentino Rossi knew Casey Stoner was faster, so whatever happened he must keep attacking and disrupting.
Márquez leads the first lap of the sprint, while Martin checks the Ducati’s tyre wear
Michelin
Sunday’s cancellation was great news for Martin, because he heads to Malaysia this week only ten points behind Márquez. If the final Australian Grand Prix had happened, he would probably be 30 points down.
Will Martin race at Sepang? He will surely have a go – if he can pass the medical – because this is what these superhumans do. But he will be far from full strength, so it’s hard to see him challenging for the title, unless something bad happens to Márquez or Marco Bezzecchi, a further 40 points down.
Márquez knows how to win championships, so it’s difficult to imagine him making the kind of mistake that would cost him the title now. And yet he could be the innocent victim of someone else’s mistake, because, sadly, that’s motorcycle racing.
If the 33-year-old Spaniard does win his eighth MotoGP crown, he will equal Giacomo Agostini as the most successful premier-class champion of all time. A truly historic moment and inevitably another moment for fans to argue about who is the greatest of all time.
If Márquez does secure the title, he may turn his efforts towards another battle, another head-to-head confrontation.
Earlier this month he missed a pre-race promotional event at Motegi. Someone in MotoGP management had decided it was a good idea to have all 22 riders take part in a go-kart race a few hours before the GP. Márquez, whose right arm and shoulder require intense physio and ice therapy several times each day, skipped the kart event and sent a doppelganger, wearing his helmet with a black visor.
MotoGP management were not amused. Of course, riders should attend promo events, but perhaps it would be a good idea to choose activities that don’t risk further damaging their already battered bodies.
After hours of hoping for better weather that would allow the medical helicopter to fly in case of an emergency, the riders went out for a parade lap to cheer up the sodden fans
MotoGP
During the following weekend’s Indonesian GP, Liberty’s MotoGP Sports and Entertainment Group announced new penalties for riders that miss promo and media events. Fines would start at 5000 Euros (£4200) and increase for repeat offenders.
Fair enough, although no surprise that most riders weren’t amused. Not only because of the fines but also by the increasing number of promo activities, which interfere with their actual job – racing motorcycles – which requires intense technical, mental and physical preparation throughout each weekend.
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Two weeks later at Phillip Island, MotoGP announced that it was broadening the fines for promo no-shows. Most importantly, frequent offenders would be hit with sporting punishments: suspension from practice sessions and grid penalties.
This is a step too far – the punishment does not fit the crime. It is unacceptable to destroy a rider’s weekend for the crime of not signing enough autographs, or whatever.
Take this to the extreme and imagine a rider losing a world championship for refusing to kowtow to Liberty’s demands. That will never happen, you might say, but that’s not the point. Liberty has made it possible. And the people that come up with rules like this usually like to use them.
Even Formula 1 doesn’t impose rules like this on its drivers. Of course, F1 has a range of penalties covering driver attendance of promo and media activities. These start with a 5000 Euro fine for arriving late for a pre-event media conference and end with so-called F1 community penalties.
The worst that can happen to repeat F1 promo/media offenders is that they will be required to attend promotional events outside of race weekends. These might include awareness or educational activities, so drivers might have to give lectures on road safety to school kids, which might require a couple of days out of their schedules between races. But won’t damage their results.
This is an excellent case of the punishment fitting the crime: a promo penalty for a promo offence. And it’s a win-win-win: drivers serve time for the sport, kids get educated and they get to meet F1 stars, which promotes the championship.
Local hero Jack Miller didn’t get to race his Aussie-livery Pramac Yamaha, but did get to do a few wheelies and stoppies
Yamaha
MotoGP riders should not accept these sporting punishments for promo/media offences.
Were Liberty’s pronouncements in Indonesia and Australia designed to force a showdown with the riders? Because it certainly seems like that. The question now is who will win this confrontation.
Perhaps they will be the spark that lights the fire that creates a MotoGP riders union that will fight for rider rights against the corporate interests of the championship’s owners.
There’s been talk of a rider union since 2023, when sprint races were introduced at every round, without full consultation with the riders, teams and manufacturers.
Sprints aren’t merely an extra race, the new format written to squeeze them into the schedule transformed every MotoGP weekend into a non-stop, full-gas ordeal that takes riders, mechanics, engineers and many others to the brink.
This year half the grid has missed races due to injury
On top of all that, there are now 22 rounds per season. When Márquez graduated to MotoGP in 2013 there were 18 rounds, so that was 18 races, against 44 now.
So many riders got injured in that first year of sprints that not one GP race started with a full grid, the first time that had ever happened and by no means a coincidence.
And this year half the grid has missed races due to injury: Martin, Márquez, Bezzecchi, Johann Zarco, Alex Márquez, Ai Ogura, Raul Fernandez, Fermin Aldguer, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Maverick Viñales.
The fact that Liberty continues to apply extra pressure to riders suggests a disturbing lack of understanding of what they’re involved in. Motorcycle racing isn’t tennis, golf or football. Or even F1.
Perhaps Liberty’s American bosses need reminding that last year two riders were killed while practicing for JuniorGP events – managed, marketed and organised by Liberty’s MSEG – one of them a child. Twenty-year-old Superstock rider Borja Gómez was killed at Magny-Cours and 17-year-old Moto3 rider Pau Alsina died after crashing at Aragon.
Last summer I asked Márquez about the increasing racetrack pressures and media demands imposed on MotoGP riders.
“Always they ask more and more and more [of us] and someday it will explode,” he answered.
A riders meeting at Assen in 1990: Mick Doohan, Pier Francesco Chili, engineer Stuart Shenton, Masahiro Shimizu, Niall Mackenzie, Wayne Rainey, rider rep Didier de Radigues and Wayne Gardner
Two weeks ago at Mandalika I asked him about the promo penalties.
“As riders, we are the first to want MotoGP to grow bigger and bigger,” he said. “But I think we can have different ways to grow the sport without pushing the riders so much.
“Now we have a lot of things to do, because it’s not only MotoGP things. We have sponsor things during the weekend, team meetings, then Sunday warm-up, then you change quickly for the parade, then the hero walk, with a lot of people, then you come back for another team meeting after the warm-up because you didn’t have time before.
“In the end, we are athletes. Next year, the schedule is even more intense. We are the first that want MotoGP to grow, but there are other ways to grow the championship. We have the show on the racetrack, not outside.”
Funnily enough, the last attempt at forming a MotoGP rider union came in 1992, just after Dorna had purchased the championship from F1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone. Riders realised they needed to gang together to defend themselves in this new corporate environment.
The International Motorcycle Racers Association didn’t last long because it wasn’t properly put together. Today’s riders need to do better. They need to form a union that’s a legal entity, which employs a shit-hot lawyer that can hold his or her own among a bunch of corporate hustlers.
Riders often say that a rider union would never work, because they’ll never all agree on anything, because they’re all primarily motivated by their own agendas. But unanimous decisions are entirely unnecessary. Riders would take a democratic vote on each matter and the lawyer would take the demands of the majority to Liberty.
Márquez’s recent statements – on Liberty’s increasing demands and the Qatar GP – suggest that he is ready for another battle. And whether he likes it or not, will need to play a leading role in this process, certainly until the union is up and running.
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