In addition to the current summer break, the 2021 MotoGP calendar is hectic. If there are no more cancellations (it has been canceled but a second race is being studied at another circuit), the final result will be 19 races. The first half of the season saw nine grands prix in a 13-week period. The second will feature ten races over a 14-week period. In total, a total of seven races will be held on consecutive weekends, that is, seven doubles.
Looking at those figures, has the pain threshold been reached? Or do the MotoGP stars envision themselves doing even more races in the future? “It’s hard to say,” says current championship leader Fabio Quartararo , attempting to make a comparison with Formula 1, where the current calendar includes 22 races with an option for 23.
Before the recent cancellation of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, the 2021 F1 calendar included 23 races. And while the MotoGP calendar has seven doubles, the 2021 Formula 1 calendar even has four so-called triples, that is, races on three consecutive weekends.
“Yes, Formula 1 has even more races than us, but they don’t have the problems that we have,” says Quartararo, who explains: “I remember when we raced in Valencia in the middle of November in the 2019 season. It was already very cold then. Yes we don’t get the tires up to temperature, we crash. It’s a different situation [to Formula 1]. So I don’t see how we could do more races.”
“After all, there are one or two new races almost every year. If it stays like this, I expect one or two to drop in return. Sure, if we raced in hot countries, the problem might not exist. But I don’t would like us to run before March and after mid-November,” Quartararo said.
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The still current champion Joan Mir agrees. The problem that Quartararo mentioned with the example of Valencia 2019 has also been a regular problem at Le Mans in recent years. Mir also considers that external circumstances such as the air and, above all, the temperature of the asphalt are “much more critical than in Formula 1, for example”. For this reason, he would also welcome the fact that the calendar was not extended even further. “I think the number of races we have is fine,” he says.
“Of course I like to race,” the Suzuki man continues, “but doing more would be really exhausting. I’m not just talking about the riders, but everyone who works in the paddock. All of them would be away from their families for longer. After all, we all want to spend many years here, not just a few.”
Maverick Viñales, who still does not know if he will race in MotoGP in 2022, considers “basically very interesting to come to new places and new tracks”. But he proposes an idea of how the calendar could even be extended without having to abolish the current grand prix: “One possibility would be to perhaps reduce the number of test days.”
It is true that the testing days have already been considerably reduced compared to the situation a few years ago. It was made in part due to the coronavirus pandemic. The Valencia test was not held in November 2020, and last winter there were also no tests in Sepang, but days were added in Losail.
If the winter tests were reduced even further, the drivers would start the new season almost “cold”. The few days of testing during a season are usually limited to the Monday following each race.
