Do the riders get a salary increase for all this extra work? Apparently not, although there should be more opportunity for race win and podium bonuses. The Sprint Races dole out roughly 1/2 the points of a full-distance GP, cascading down from 12 points for the winner to a single point for 9th place.
Free Practice 4 will disappear, but the regular Q1 and Q2 qualifying sessions will be held, and will decide the grid positions for both races. This elevates the importance of qualifying up front.
42 races means the riders must navigate through 42 first corners. The first corner is the most dangerous part of the race, and getting through the first corner in good position will be even more important in the shortened Sprint Race. How many more injuries will result from this?
Of course, crashes and injuries during the race will also go up. Riders crash during a normal MotoGP race, and a Sprint Race, if anything, will be more frenetic. Tire life will be much less of a factor, if a factor at all, during Sprint Races. This means the riders can push harder through the checkered flag.
Running two races on separate days will also increase the odds that riders will have to navigate rain and wet tracks during a race. This creates its own problems from the standpoint of rider safety and logistics for the weekend.
Dorna runs MotoGP and undoubtedly expects a big boost in TV revenue. As stated earlier, not all of the riders will gain any significant additional income in 2023. Several riders are unhappy, as you might expect.
The intensity of having a race on Saturday before the main event means one other thing. Some teams will benefit greatly from the knowledge they gain in the Sprint Race, i.e., sometimes an actual race yields more bike set-up information than a practice. We could see teams and riders that struggled with set-up before the Sprint Race become much more competitive in the Sunday race.
Is the addition of a Sprint Race at each round a good idea? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
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