How fast is too fast? It seems like a somewhat irrelevant question in the context of racing. The goal of MotoGP is to get around the track as fast as possible, so it makes sense that the goal should always be to make the bikes quicker and quicker, right? If the track records are being broken year after year, isn’t that exactly the goal that was set out when the world championship first formed, or when it officially became MotoGP back in 2002?
Let’s back up a bit and get some context. At the Portimao test two weeks before the start of this season, Pecco Bagnaia shocked the grid and perfectly started his title defence by becoming the first rider to ever lap around the circuit in under 1 minute and 38 seconds. On Friday of this weekend during Practice 2, Jack Miller broke that record again with a 1:37.7, and in qualifying the next day the top eleven riders all broke into the 37’s. The pole lap set by Marc Marquez was a 1:37.225, and is a second and a half quicker than Bagnaia’s own reigning lap record from years prior.
1.5 seconds. Let that sink in for a second. For that much time to have been cut from an overall laptime, the rider has to have gone faster in every single sector, averaging a cut of 0.375 seconds from every quarter of the circuit. In an attempt to reduce the speed of MotoGP bikes while also increasing safety and making the racing more competitive, we saw front ride height devices banned in the lead-up to this season, yet the bikes have instead found incredible speed compared to where they were last year.
We are very rapidly reaching a point of no return in this sport where safety is falling behind the speed of the racing itself. If the bikes continue to get faster, tracks become unable to comply with the safety requirements necessary to keep the riders alive, which should always be a priority in this sport. Think about what a race at Mugello or the Red Bull Ring in Austria looks like when 1.5 seconds are shaved off. Could you possibly call a race like that safe? Is it in the best interests of the riders to even race under such conditions?
Let’s highlight one of the key words there: safety. Safety was a major talking point throughout the course of the Portimao weekend. Pol Espargaro came off during P2 at turn ten and skipped across the large gravel stones on the side of the track, bouncing rather than having his momentum reduced by the trap, and careened straight into the fence on the side of the track with his bike following suit shortly after. The Spaniard was treated at the side of the track and eventually moved to a local hospital, where it was confirmed that he had suffered a fractured jaw, vertebrae damage and a lung contusion. He will not contest the Argentine grand prix, and will likely miss a host of races at the start of this season.
A day later during the sprint race, Enea Bastianini found himself being collected by Luca Marini’s crashed motorcycle, and was flung from his bike in a fairly heavy highside. The result? Another rider heavily injured and set to miss both the main event of the weekend and at least the next race to come. We hadn’t even reached the first full-distance race of the season, and the grid had been shrunk from 22 riders down to 20. The riders who remained were, understandably, rather peeved.
As if this wasn’t enough, we had yet another terrifying crash during the feature race, though this one came down primarily to rider error. Marc Marquez’s torpedo tactic managed to take down home hero Miguel Oliveira while also ruining Jorge Martin’s race. All three riders ended the weekend with injuries, and both Marc and Oliveira have been ruled out of participating in the Argentine grand prix later this week. One weekend down, and the grid has dropped to 18 competing riders.
It’s not as though all of this came out of nowhere. Fabio Di Giannantonio came off during testing back at the start of March and had such heavy concussion symptoms he was ruled out of contesting the final day. Brad Binder came off in similar circumstances and complained of whiplash symptoms while riding. Back in 2022, Bagnaia brought a handful of Portimao gravel back with him following a crash as evidence of the dangers crashing at this circuit could offer. A year before, Jorge Martin crashed heavily at turn one, ruling himself out of several races in what would have otherwise been a stellar rookie season.
At a certain point, you have to accept that the conditions are simply too dangerous. This is the longest and most gruelling calendar the MotoGP grid has ever faced – 21 rounds and 42 races in just eight months is a massive undertaking for everyone involved, but especially so for those who are going out on track and risking their lives for success and entertainment. At the current rate of attrition, we won’t have a functioning grid of riders by the time the Summer break rolls around, and the teams won’t even have that long to recuperate before they launch back into the second half of the season.
The issue is, it’s difficult to choose who to blame here. Portimao has had safety concerns raised for four years now, and the circuit is clearly taking casualties, but is that the fault of the track itself or the increasingly fast bikes? Is the change of weekend schedule causing a lack of setup time, meaning the bikes themselves are underprepared for race conditions? Are sprint races the root of the problem, making riders act more aggressively out on track and inducing greater risks to themselves and others?
It would certainly be easy to blame sprint races, as basically everyone in the industry knew they would cause problems for the sport. Riders weren’t thrilled with the announcement back in Austria last season, well aware that the additional 21 races would give ample opportunity to injure themselves. There was hope that the naysayers would be wrong, but sprints have clearly already had an impact on the season’s trajectory. 2023 is already shaping up to be a contest of survival, with the lucky few who escape collisions likely to have the most opportunities to bag points and put together a championship challenge.
Pinning the blame on the circuit is also completely justifiable given the history we’ve been over in this article, but it’s not like this is the only hazardous track on the calendar. Termas de Rio and Mandalika both receive constant complaints from MotoGP riders over the upkeep of their circuits, while the race at Austin last year was nearly boycotted before they pledged to resurface the track. The Red Bull Ring in Austria had so many races red-flagged in consecutive seasons they had to introduce an entire new cornering section just to stop motorbike riders from destroying themselves and their bikes at high speeds.
The one problem that can be properly tackled, then, is the bikes themselves. The line between speed and safety has clearly become blurred, and changes need to happen within the sport’s code to allow for balance to be restored. Taking away front ride height devices clearly wasn’t enough: this sport needs a reset button of some kind, if only to give riders and engineers a reprieve from the madness that’s already unfolding.
It’s not like this would be without precedent, either. The rules for what is and isn’t legal in MotoGP are changing constantly, with new technologies coming and going in waves as the bikes change and evolve. There can be room for advancements and retractions in equal measure. This year alone, MotoGP has been shaken up with the ride height ban and tire pressure data changes, but on the other side Moto2 have had their engine capacities raised by 400rpm. This is what allows the sport to grow and change over time – steps in both directions, backwards and forwards.
How fast is too fast? When fast becomes a cost, when it becomes the trigger for negative conditions. Yes, speed is the goal of this sport, but only when we can simultaneously guarantee that as many people as possible get to go home unscathed at the end of the day. When that is achieved, we are left with brilliant racing and glorious battles. When it slips away, the sport becomes no better than a gladiatorial arena. It’s early days in 2023, but perhaps it’s already time to re-assess where we stand.
Solomon Talks Bikes 