Simon Patterson

MotoGP

How MotoGP’s best satellite ride could suddenly open up for 2024

Pramac Ducati’s vacant MotoGP 2024 seat is thought to be between Marco Bezzecchi and Johann Zarco. There’s a scenario in which neither takes it

MotoGP

The ‘really surprising’ standout of Austrian GP practice

On a track where Aprilia wasn’t expected to shine, Maverick Vinales made a big impression in Friday MotoGP practice

MotoGP

Honda needs a particular Ducati to win the Austrian GP

Honda’s chances of convincing Johann Zarco to leave Pramac Ducati and join its LCR MotoGP team are ironically a lot stronger if Zarco wins the Austrian Grand Prix

MotoGP

Ducati’s 2024 MotoGP line-up puzzle has got more complicated

Ducati was adamant Marco Bezzecchi had to leave VR46 for Pramac if he wanted a 2024-spec bike for MotoGP next year. Now he’s hinting that situation – and Johann Zarco’s – has changed

MotoGP

Honda’s MotoGP season so bad Mir seriously considered retiring

Joan Mir’s admission that his first Repsol Honda season has been so bad he considered retiring from MotoGP at the age of 25 is yet more evidence of how far the team has fallen

MotoGP

Zarco should go to World Superbikes – but not yet

Pramac MotoGP rider Johann Zarco has once again been linked to a potential switch to the World Superbikes – but he shouldn’t switch yet nor does it look like he will as Simon Patterson explains

MotoGP

KTM’s hardball Yamaha/Honda MotoGP stance is aimed at Dorna

KTM wants six bikes on the 2024 MotoGP grid. Dorna isn’t keen. But Dorna might need KTM’s help to make Yamaha and Honda more competitive…

MotoGP

MotoGP 2024: Who’s going where after latest rider market twists

The 2024 MotoGP rider market wasn’t supposed to be too eventful given how many big names had ongoing contracts. But it’s gone wild. Here’s what’s happened so far, what’s coming next, and what seems to have fallen through

MotoGP

Quartararo’s Yamaha warning gives Aprilia a golden shot at him

Fabio Quartararo’s warned Yamaha that it’s not going to keep him long term if he doesn’t like his first taste of its 2024 MotoGP bike next month. Aprilia needs to be ready to swoop for him, says Simon Patterson

MotoGP

Broadcast backing tips the scales in Gresini MotoGP seat battle

A Gresini Ducati MotoGP ride looks set to go to one of two Moto2 riders in 2024. And there’s a high-level push for Jake Dixon to win out

MotoGP

British Grand Prix 2023 MotoGP rider rankings

The British Grand Prix was comfortably the most impressive weekend of the 2023 MotoGP season so far for some riders, but absolutely abysmal for some of the series’ biggest names. Simon Patterson doesn’t hold back as he ranks the field

MotoGP

‘Put out the f**king red flag’ – Riders’ race control rage

A host of MotoGP riders have hit out at the series’ race directors for not stopping the action during Saturday morning’s British Grand Prix practice and qualifying and qualifying sessions at Silverstone

MotoGP

Zarco ‘would be proud’ to help turn Honda around amid LCR offer

Johann Zarco likes the idea of being the rider to turn Honda’s MotoGP programme around and he’s got a 2024 offer from LCR. But he’d rather stay at Ducati. The problem is, it needs his works-spec bike for Marco Bezzecchi and wants to move Zarco to World Superbikes

MotoGP

Silverstone sprint a miserable nadir for MotoGP’s big three

MotoGP’s Silverstone sprint was poor for Pecco Bagnaia and atrocious for Fabio Quartararo, and Marc Marquez all but admitted that he gave up. Why did the three biggest names on the grid do so badly?

MotoGP

Why Rossi’s team won’t get what it wants from Ducati for 2024

Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team thinks Ducati giving it a 2024-spec bike next season would solve a lot of MotoGP problems for all involved. Ducati’s not keen. The Race heard the reasoning from both sides

MotoGP

First impressions of Honda’s new ‘crazy downforce’ MotoGP aero

The new Honda aero package making its MotoGP race weekend debut at Silverstone is a “massive” change that is still in a very early stage of development, according to Takaaki Nakagami

MotoGP

Pol Espargaro ‘mentally destroyed’ by first day back in MotoGP

Tech3 Gas Gas rider Pol Espargaro admits his first day back riding in MotoGP in British Grand Prix practice after a long injury absence “mentally destroyed” him

MotoGP

MotoGP exclusive: Ducati on Bezzecchi plan, potential Zarco exit

Ducati sporting director Paolo Ciabatti says Marco Bezzecchi will likely have to move to Pramac to have a works-spec MotoGP bike next year, in a move that would come at the expense of Johann Zarco

MotoGP

Why MotoGP’s long-awaited rule hinges on random checks for now

MotoGP’s new tyre pressure monitoring system has been three months in the making, but now it’s finally being introduced it won’t be applied to every bike on the grid each time. The series has clarified why that’s the case to The Race

MotoGP

The jolt Yamaha needs? Its MotoGP rider switch explained

Yamaha admits it didn’t have to axe Franco Morbidelli from its MotoGP line-up. But it felt it needed to try something drastic in its current plight

Formula 1

Silverstone admits F1 has ‘distracted’ it from MotoGP

Silverstone admits the effort it’s put into its booming Formula 1 event has “distracted” it from its comparatively struggling MotoGP grand prix – but makes no apology for that

MotoGP

Evasive Marquez now sounds resigned to being stuck at Honda

After Honda’s revelation that it wouldn’t force Marc Marquez to stick to his 2024 MotoGP contract if he wanted to leave, the paddock was desperate to hear what he’d decided over the summer break. He didn’t quite answer the question, but his situation seems clear

MotoGP

New MotoGP rule will make riders ‘robots like in F1’

MotoGP risks “losing our show” by further complicating things for riders with the policing of tyre pressure limits, according to Pramac Ducati rider Johann Zarco

MotoGP

Yamaha’s genius Rins hire is another bitter blow to Honda

Yamaha and Honda are both struggling in MotoGP – so it’s particularly telling the former was able to lure away Alex Rins from the latter

MotoGP

What makes British GP so desperate for a home MotoGP rider

This year’s MotoGP British Grand Prix will be the third in a row without a British rider on the premier-class grid. As one option grows more likely for 2024, Silverstone CEO Stuart Pringle says that’s something the event desperately needs if it’s to thrive

MotoGP

‘Something others don’t have’ – Why Stoner rates Bezzecchi

Casey Stoner wants MotoGP to drastically cut rider aids. And if it did, he reckons VR46 Ducati’s Marco Bezzecchi would handle it better than most. This is why

MotoGP

Suzuka-sacrificing MotoGP call hints at Honda recruitment woes

Iker Lecuona will forgo a bid for another Suzuka 8 Hours win to ride at Silverstone. That only makes sense as a Honda MotoGP 2024 audition

MotoGP

ITV drops live broadcast of MotoGP’s British Grand Prix

MotoGP’s British Grand Prix won’t be broadcast on free-to-air TV in the UK after all following a change of plan by ITV

MotoGP

Crutchlow gets wildcard Yamaha hopes is bike’s ‘turning point’

Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow will make a wildcard appearance at its home MotoGP race, the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi in October, which Yamaha believes can mark a “significant turning point” in improving its beleaguered M1 bike’s performance

MotoGP

Crutchlow gets wildcard Yamaha hopes is bike’s ‘turning point’

Yamaha test rider Cal Crutchlow will make a wildcard appearance at its home MotoGP race, the Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi in October, which Yamaha believes can mark a “significant turning point” in improving its beleaguered M1 bike’s performance

MotoGP

Could Honda just give up on MotoGP?

Riders and teams are seemingly deserting once-mighty Honda. The situation looks like it might take years to turn around. So could Honda actually decide to quit MotoGP?

MotoGP

Shock Honda-KTM move would solve a lot of MotoGP problems

News that KTM is trying to grab LCR from Honda’s MotoGP line-up is potentially good news for everyone involved, and Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta too, says Simon Patterson

MotoGP

MotoGP missed an open goal at Goodwood

With attendance figures higher than MotoGP events, the series missed a big opportunity to engage new fans at the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed

MotoGP

‘This is real’ – Stoner’s 500cc run underlines his MotoGP point

Days after saying he felt he’d missed out by never racing a 500cc GP bike, Casey Stoner got to try two classics from the era thanks to Kevin Schwantz and Kenny Roberts Jr. And it made him even more convinced about how modern MotoGP’s going wrong

Formula 1

Vettel: F1 risks being banned by governments in the future

Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel believes motorsport could be banned by governments in the future if it doesn’t make key changes

MotoGP

Honda’s odd-man-out might have an unexpected 2024 lifeline

The only full-time 2023 Honda MotoGP rider not sidelined by injury at some point this year might have another unexpected career lifeline

MotoGP

Stoner wants ‘clone wars’ MotoGP to make radical changes

Two-time champion Casey Stoner says MotoGP has descended into “clone wars” and needs radical changes to its technical rulebook to improve its racing and reverse its popularity decline

Formula 1

Saturday at Goodwood FoS cancelled after weather warning

The penultimate day of the 2023 Goodwood Festival of Speed has been cancelled amid a yellow warning for high winds and heavy rain, the culmination of two days of unseasonably bad weather at the festival

MotoGP

Three factors that will save or finish off Marquez-Honda union

It’s about to be crunch time for Marc Marquez’s relationship with Honda. Simon Patterson explains the likely timeline of what makes or breaks it

MotoGP

Petrucci’s warning to MotoGP riders in mix for WSBK switch

Now a WSBK podium finisher, Danilo Petrucci still admits he thought the switch would be “easier” for someone of his MotoGP pedigree