Modern MotoGP is broken: here are five foolproof, brilliant ways to fix it

As TG writes this, Marc Marquez is poised to take the 2025 MotoGP championship title with six rounds to go. He’s won nearly every sprint and grand prix this season. Meanwhile, the bikes are slowly morphing into aero-laden Batmobiles and thanks to the turbulent air they create – not to mention some deeply silly rules about tyre pressures – overtaking is becoming rarer by the season.

But this is the pinnacle of motorcycle racing. A sport where people force bikes stubbornly round corners by leaning off them until their shoulders rub the ground, and brake so hard they pull 200mph stoppies. At its best, MotoGP is the ultimate spectator motorsport. And we’ve got a few ideas about how to restore it back to its best…

It’s been a tough season to watch for anybody who isn’t a blood relative of Marc Marquez, or doesn’t have a conspicuous ‘93’ tattoo on their body. The eight-time world champion is on track to put together his most dominant season in a career characterised by dominant seasons, mounting an inspirational and emotional comeback after a shoulder injury at Jerez in 2020 which threatened to end his career.

It’s a story of perseverance, commitment and rising above adversity. It is not, however, a story of particularly interesting races to watch.

In the first sixteen rounds, Marquez has won all but two sprint races (he crashed in Misano last weekend and finished way down the order in, er, P2 at Silverstone). He’s won 11 of 16 grands prix.

As if that wasn’t dominant enough, the only rider this season who’s been able to ride anywhere close to Marc has been… his brother Alex. Think of that. Imagine what it would have been like if at the moment Michael Schumacher’s dominance ended in F1, Ralf started winning everything.

Something must be done, and here’s what that thing is: Marc and Alex have to share a bike from now on. They can elect to ride pillion or in a sidecar, and they’re free to swap roles mid-race if they like. Enjoy the race, lads.

Marquez’s victory hoarding isn’t the only issue modern MotoGP needs to address. The development direction in recent years has increasingly focused on aero development, electronic rider aids and ride height devices, spawning bikes that might be fast around a track but would get roundly mocked for being sensitive softies by the older, tougher Honda NSRs and Yamaha M1s down the pub.

The result is simply less exciting racing. Just as F1 drivers complain about following in turbulent air, riders are now telling the press they’re having trouble overtaking for the same reason.

Aero development’s particularly expensive, too. It’s widely considered to be one of the big reasons Suzuki pulled out of the sport, just two years after winning the riders’ championship with Joan Mir, who now earns a living inspecting gravel traps for Honda.

Meanwhile, Moto3 racing is unspeakably great, weekend in, weekend out.

We’re not here to tell Dorna and Liberty the direction that bike development should go in. That would be a step too far. We’re simply here to enforce that until there are more overtakes in a MotoGP grand prix than in its junior feeder category Moto3, MotoGP has to sit on the naughty step.

Sunday’s schedule will begin with the MotoGP race at 9am, and the headline 1pm slot will be occupied by the Moto3 boys, who think nothing of going six or seven abreast into corners, and who overtake each other so much that the timings overlay can barely keep up. Sure it’s a largely homologated category, but it’s far more entertaining than the premier class at the moment, and so it’s taking top billing until the big bikes sort their act out.

The inevitable effect of MotoGP’s aero era is that the bikes have stopped looking like bikes, and have increasingly taken on the appearance of something Bruce Wayne would use on his morning commute.

Fins and protrusions have started spawning all over the once sleek and attractive fairings, leading to prototypes that look like they’ve been dabbed with glue and then rolled around in the Monaco street circuit’s gutters after a particularly accident-prone F1 race.

Therefore, manufacturers will hereby be issued with substantial financial penalties each time they turn up to a circuit with a bike that even slightly resembles an Action Man accessory. This is up to the race stewards’ discretion, but they will be briefed to count the number of silly fins, extraneous carbon fibre growths and bits off a cheese grater.

Close your eyes and say the word ‘MotoGP’ to yourself, over and over again. Then sit there and notice what images form in your mind.

Is it Marc Marquez carefully managing his front tyre pressure by letting a rider past him on the straight so he can tuck in behind? Is it Pecco Bagnaia complaining about sprint race fuel tanks to Jack Appleyard? No. It’s a rider doing a cool wheelie over the finish line to celebrate a race win. This is a universal aspect of the human condition. Wheelies are cool and so are the people doing them. This is central to MotoGP’s product.

And it’s basically impossible to do anymore. 2025’s prototypes are equipped with ride height devices that push the front end down when deployed, to minimise wheelies, and even when they’re not deployed, there’s so much downforce being generated by the front wings on those fairings that the bike just won’t tip up when you twist the throttle.

To the riders’ credit, they do still try. But the hardware’s working against them, and that leads to chequered flag celebrations reminiscent of a tentative teenager trying to wheelie their mountain bike over a speedbump.

Therefore, doing a full commitment wheelie, Max Biaggi style, must become a mandatory obligation for each rider, at least once per race. Manufacturers should alter their bike designs accordingly.

Another problem with the modern sport: it’s all a bit nice.

Gone are the days of riders refusing to shake hands in press conferences, or forming seething multi-season vendettas. At least while the cameras are around, the current MotoGP crop are basically just a load of mates with a deep respect and admiration for each other. Boring.

We’d never advocate a drop in safety standards, but we’d certainly push for a higher rate of fuming grudges between riders and we’ve got the ultimate tool to achieve that. His name’s David Munoz.

The preposterously aggressive Moto3 rider has earned a reputation in recent seasons for being as quick as he is dastardly. He’ll divebomb you if you leave a sheet of A4 paper’s width between your knee and the apex. Sometimes he’ll divebomb you anyway, even if you didn’t. He’ll run you off the track in an act of steward-troubling revenge if he doesn’t like the move you put on him, and he’ll happily ride around off the pace but on the racing line in qualifying to disturb your lap.

He’s the agent of chaos that MotoGP needs. It’s time.