Hi everyone! I’ve listened to many opinions, the statements of Bagnaia and Jimenez in the Zam podcast, I’ve heard from other riders that I respect. I made up my mind, the new format is problematic, but there is something else that contributes: the technical regulations that put all the riders on the same level, the tires that were too extreme, the aerodynamics. I’m not saying it’s all wrong, but there is a lot to correct.
Premise. Don’t make the mistake of underestimating the problem: it’s not normal to register in five Grands Prix 114 crashes in the top class against 87 in Moto3 and 77 in Moto2. I start from the format: Antonio Jimenez has been a technician for 35 years in the world championship and says that the riders are anxious from the first exit in P1, at the second exit of P1 they already have to look for the times because entering Q2 is essential, starting in the first three rows it is decisive for the race.
“Aggression since Friday, testifies Jimenez, is a new thing. You have to force it right away, you’re not ready yet, and you fall”. He proposes that P1 doesn’t count for qualifying, and that the 10-minute warm-up should be doubled at least. Today, with FP4 suppressed, there’s no way to simulate the race.
The technical regulation. It seemed nice to Dorna to increase the show, so they did a regulation that levels performance. And this also made sense, the race is good with so many riders who can win, but now we’ve gotten ourselves into a very difficult situation, also because the bikes go faster and faster, especially when cornering, and the escape spaces on many tracks are no longer enough…
It’s a fact: there has never been a situation like this in the world championship, with so many top-level riders and bikes. Today we have half of the grid that can win the race and the other half aiming for the top five, and this complicates things a lot. At the time of Ago there were only two or three riders who could win and the others far away; and again in the 1980s and 1990s with the Americans and Australians dominating, then in the 2000s with Valentino, etc.: at most, four riders competed for victories, not ten.
And finally and and and. Maybe the pilots cannot express themselves freely, but we have been saying for years that Michelin makes tires that are too extreme, who work in very small temperature ranges, that the front tire is not in order, that nothing is enough to go into overpressure and lose grip. The urgency to overtake, perhaps forcing if necessary, also comes from here.
How do we get out? We know that the builders association is thinking about the reduction of displacements or powers for the new regulation 2026-2031. It would also be considering whether to put limits on the development of aerodynamics. But the tires absolutely have to change: Dorna and the FIM must demand that Michelin accept that they need much less extreme tyres. But these are all solutions that ask for time… and soon?
Soon, in addition to quickly changing the format, we need to change something in the FIM Steward Panel to restore peace of mind. Today it is chaos: little homogeneity of judgment, penalties that seem illogical. We propose that the members be fixed, without rotation, and that the general principles be written down: certainly not a casuistry of all the theoretical contacts and dynamics, which would be impossible, but at least the fundamentals. AND for all race contacts a written conclusion is required, whether they are judged to be misconduct or race incidents. Black on white, always.
The disciplinary body is needed. There are those who say: let’s leave it to them, to the pilots, to play with it, if you give it to me I’ll give it to you, they’ve always gotten away with it that way. Yes, it’s true, but today is very different because -as I demonstrated- there are many riders in the MotoGP, all close together, all very fast and all in a hurry to gain positions as soon as possible before the front tire lets them go.
