Over the course of the last few seasons and under the leadership of FIM MotoGP chief steward and past world champion Freddie Spencer, complaints about the way in which the three-person stewards’ panel has handed out sanctions has been one of the most consistent elements of the championship.
But, only one race weekend into the 2025 season and with grand prix race winner and former pitlane presenter and commentator Simon Crafar now in charge, there’s already been a noticeable change in the way in which the sport is being governed - one that hopefully continues.
Spencer was first appointed as chief steward in 2019, coming back into the MotoGP paddock after a long absence to take charge of a newly-redesigned stewarding panel that involved the responsibility being split into a separate full time job instead of being part of the functions of race director Mike Webb.
It was hoped that Spencer would bring his experience as a multiple world champion to the role after a few years of high profile incidents following the removal of the series’ penalty points system - incidents that regularly seemed to involve multiple world champion Marc Marquez.
However, it’s fair to say that that hope failed to materialise, with the panel instead becoming an all too frequent target for criticism from racers, media and fans alike thanks to the inconsistent and opaque way in which penalties were handed out.
Riders seemed to be told one weekend that rules would be applied in a certain way only to see that then change or even disappear as soon as at the same event, with Spencer’s panel refusing to engage with them or the media to explain their seemingly scattergun approach.
That in turn led not only to something of a crisis of confidence in the stewards but even, it can be argued, led to racers sometimes taking matters into their own hands, with Aleix Espargaro’s on-track slapping of repeat offender Franco Morbidelli at last year’s French Grand Prix perhaps the prime example.
The end result of that is that Crafar’s first big job of 2025 was always going to be restoring a bit of confidence in the panel he inherited from Spencer - something that he seems to have gone a fair bit of the way towards achieving right away over the season-opening weekend in Thailand.
His first task, as it turned out, was once again adjudicating against Morbidelli after he once again committed what has made him a regular in their office: touring on the racing line. This time he got in the way of Pecco Bagnaia during Friday afternoon’s practice session.
The sanction handed out, a three-place grid penalty, isn’t in itself a change from how Spencer would have done it - but it seems like the manner in which Morbidelli was sentenced has started off the year on the right foot.
Under Spencer, the normal complaint from many riders was that there was often a lack of dialogue and communication, something that Crafar’s respect in the paddock was always likely to help counter. Morbidelli grudgingly agreed about Crafar’s standing, even if he wasn’t too happy to be sanctioned.
Asked by The Race if the process had been different from past years, Morbidelli replied: “Actually, yes. There was a lot more dialogue today.
“I’m still a big fan, but I need to try and keep it professional! He’s always been a great character inside the paddock and it’s going to take some time to put it on the professional side, although today’s penalty helps do that!”
“Simon Crafar was a rider,” Bagnaia added, “and he clearly understood the situation.”
However, Crafar’s biggest decision came on Sunday morning during the opening Moto3 race of the year where yet another repeat offender got penalised in exactly the way in which the stewards panel should work.
David Munoz was another regular in the stewards office in 2024 thanks to his chronic habit of riding into other riders. He was one of a handful of riders handed a long lap penalty for contact with another rider - only for Crafar and his team to then look back at the incident after the race and realise that Munoz didn’t just bump Luca Lunetta, he did so under yellow flags.
Rather than simply ignore it because a decision had already been made (as might have been the case under different leadership), Crafar then upgraded Munoz’s sanction to a pitlane start for the next race thanks to the way in which he endangered marshals clearing a crashed bike.
And, with Crafar believed to be set to take a harder line with those repeat offenders in particular, it hints very much at his intentions for the year - something that can only be a good thing for MotoGP.
