until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
Algarve Grand Prix race winner Pecco Bagnaia has led calls for MotoGP to follow in the footsteps of Formula 1 and adopt a premier-class superlicence, following the high-profile collision between Dennis Foggia and 2022 MotoGP rookie Darryn Binder that handed the 2021 Moto3 title to Pedro Acosta in today’s race at Portimao.
F1 introduced the superlicence format to ensure that drivers coming into the world championship have the requisite racing CV indicating they’re fast and experienced enough to be there – but with no MotoGP equivalent, Binder is being allowed to jump directly from the lightweight class next year despite having only a single victory to his name after seven seasons.
And, following the clash between him and Foggia in today’s race – a racing incident that nonetheless is only the latest in a series of incidents involving Binder – Bagnaia says that perhaps it’s time to replicate F1’s system.
“I think that like in the car championships we need a superlicence,” he said when asked about Binder’s actions, “so that if you are doing something in your championship you can move to the next level. Today what we saw is normality, because we’ve seen a lot of crashes like this from him.
“I know it’s not correct to say something like this about another rider, but next year he will be with us and with MotoGP we are faster. I hope that it won’t happen, but it’s something that they have to think of.”
And while not quite joining his rival in calling for the introduction of a superlicence in the future, Suzuki’s Joan Mir says that it’s an issue worth considering thanks to the pressures that he believes the situation is placing upon Binder’s shoulders.
“It’s difficult to say something,” said the former world champion, “but for sure it isn’t the first time this rider had made some maneuver like this. What’s so important is that you have to penalise these moves. Not for the race, but maybe a race out or maybe more. Because if not, it’ll happen again. Thankfully today nothing happened to Foggia and Garcia, but it can, especially in Moto3.
“I don’t know about a superlicence, because this is something difficult, but it’s not a bad idea.
“Not everything is the fault of Darryn, but the pressure he has is unbelievable. He has to show why he’s going to MotoGP next year, and for sure that pressure is not helping him to make good decisions.
“Under pressure we all make mistakes. I think that it’s not easy to manage a situation like this one.”
And while Bagnaia’s fellow Ducati rider Jack Miller, the only other rider in the sport’s history to jump from Moto3 to MotoGP, might normally have a different opinion, even he agreed that while he doesn’t want the unusual route closed off completely, Binder’s actions were out of line on Sunday.
“What can I say?” Miller admitted. “I did the same thing as Darryn, so my opinion is different.”
“Mistakes can happen, incidents can happen, as I think as you know “, he added, looking to Mir. “You speak about incidents, but how many times have we hit each other this year?
“Contact is one thing, I understand, but there has to be a margin. I 100% understand because what happened today wasn’t nice for all areas. For Foggia, because he lost, but also for Pedro because I think it takes away from what he’s done as a rookie. It robbed him of the chance to fight until the end.”
