Does MotoGP need to rethink its starting procedure after the Hungary accident?
Could Sunday’s huge turn one incident in Hungary cause MotoGP to make major changes to its start procedure?
MotoGP looks to have a race start/turn one issue on its hands, following another huge pile-up during Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
The incident involved five riders, three of which are currently in the top three positions in the championship, including Marco Bezzecchi, team-mate Jorge Martin and Fabio di Giannantonio.
It was the second of those three riders (Martin) who caused the collision, as the Spaniard lost total control of his machine heading into turn one. But the bigger picture here is that MotoGP has now had two very serious incidents occur on the first lap in two out of the last three races.
The first of those left Johann Zarco needing surgery, after the LCR Honda rider was taken to hospital following a three-rider collision in Barcelona. Then came Sunday’s incident at the Balaton Park circuit, as two of the five riders were sent flying over the top of their machines.
Martin admitted he was solely responsible for the collision post-race, however, it doesn’t seem to be a coincidence that MotoGP’s worst accidents appear to happen on lap one, at turn one.
This begs the question, does MotoGP need to change something?
The answer to that might be, yes. In fact, it seems as though MotoGP might already be on its way to making a change, as it was reported over the weekend that it could be set to trial an F1-style starting procedure.
According to Sky Italia, the proposed change would see two bikes line-up per row rather than three, which has been common practice for MotoGP since it made the change from four riders per row to three in 2004.
Speaking about the situation in Mugello, MotoGP chief sporting officer, Carlos Ezpeleta, said: “There are things to improve on, that we've started to consider with the teams. One being the grid itself.”
Ezpeleta went on to add that a change could be made so that it would leave “more space between the riders so they have more room to manoeuvre going into turn one.”
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After graduating with a sports journalism degree, Robert joined Crash.net to lead the WorldSBK coverage in 2021, while also providing MotoGP coverage. Fulfilling that role for over three years, Robert was able to put his knowledge about all things racing to the test.
