Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia clinched the MotoGP title this year despite missing a quarter of the races. Such a failure rate would not have led to World Cup success a few years ago.
But MotoGP has changed. In order to be able to have a say about the title, the drivers have to take a lot of risks on the race weekends and sometimes go beyond their limits. Consistent results alone are not enough to win the championship.
“The level of the riders, the bikes and the championship is very high. There are many races. It all plays into it,” explains Jack Miller, who also experienced some ups and downs. “I had four retirements and was a World Cup candidate,” he marvels.
Extremely high density of good riders and bikes
“It’s the high level,” Miller explains. “Everyone drives at an extremely high level. You have to be really fast every weekend and that makes it difficult to be consistent. In the past you were often not a World Championship contender if you had more than one retirement.”
“But the number of potentially fast bikes is huge now,” compares Miller, illustrating the problem: “On a bad day you can struggle to finish in the points in some races. I had really bad weekends at Mugello and Barcelona. I was fighting for two points.”
Why a conservative approach no longer leads to success
It was even easier for a top driver a few years ago when the differences in the field were greater. Safe points were thus guaranteed, even if the weekend was not so successful for the respective driver.
“It used to be different. You finished fourth or fifth on a bad weekend. Then you accepted that as a defeat and were up front again when the bike was going well,” says Miller.
“Back then you didn’t have to go so much over the limit. Now you have to go over your own limit in certain situations in certain races. That’s why the results are so uneven,” Miller explains the fluctuating results of the MotoGP riders.