MotoGP rider union talks revived amid Qatar GP vote

Talks of a MotoGP riders’ union have once again restarted, following a secret meeting held on Thursday at the Australian Grand Prix and first reported by The Race.

A number of riders admitted on Friday that the precarious situation surrounding the upcoming Qatar Grand Prix has prompted them to once again start considering better representation.

The meeting in question included a vote on whether the riders wanted to race at Lusail in two weeks' time given recent growing fears of a significant escalation of conflict in the region. Two-thirds of the grid are understood to have voted against racing.

It’s believed by The Race’s sources that this might lead to further action, with a suggestion that riders are now considering enlisting joint legal representation to challenge any decision by their teams, and ultimately the championship, to force them to attend.

And, while they might not yet have a resolution to the current situation, the issue has highlighted to several riders just how little decision-making power they have in the grand scheme of things.

“We have talked,” Tech3 KTM racer Enea Bastianini explained afterwards, “and it is important for everyone to talk together. For our future, it is important.

“We started two years ago with this [union] project, but we didn’t finalise it, and I think it is important to have a little bit of power. The teams have power, [MotoGP organisers] Dorna have power - but us, we have nothing.

“That isn’t normal, because our world doesn’t exist without us, even if we [also] don’t exist without the [MotoGP] world, so there needs to be a compromise.”

That talk of the riders’ lack of power comes only a few days after MotoGP deputy CEO Carlos Ezpeleta explained to the media, following the introduction of a contentious new weekend format for 2027, that he doesn’t believe it is the role of the championship, but rather of the teams, to gather rider input on the series’ strategy.

“We don't have any contracts with the riders,” Ezpeleta said when quizzed on why riders had not been directly consulted on the introduction of a higher-intensity qualifying format. “We have contracts with the teams.

“They are part of the governance of the championship, part of the governance model of the championship, and by no means are we saying the riders shouldn't be involved. Our door has always been open, and there's been a safety commission [gathering on race weekends] for a very long time. In that, we always comment on every change we want to do.

“If you probably compare it to any other sport, MotoGP's door is more open than any other sport in the world.

“We're very clear with the teams that we should only make these changes once they've spoken to the riders, once they've brought them in. I think it's a task of the teams to do.”

The idea of a riders’ union isn’t a new one, either, having been suggested multiple times in the past - most significantly in 2023, after sprint races were introduced at every round of the championship, likewise without direct rider input, a move that has been linked to an increased rate of injuries.

One significant change this time compared to then concerns the composition of the proposed union. The previous idea was to have the association headed up by an ex-racer like Sylvain Guintoli - but a different direction is apparently being considered now.

“I think an association of riders is super important and useful,” explained two-time MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia. “And it is the correct time to do it.

“In 2023, we were approaching to do it, and then for some reasons we couldn’t go forward. But now we are starting to do it again, and I think it is super useful for us.

“We just need to name a person that can fight for us. It cannot be [someone who is racing]. Better even if it’s someone out of this world, someone who doesn’t have preference, just working in one direction - for safety and for us.

“For me it doesn’t have to be a rider, it doesn’t have to be someone from the paddock. Like a lawyer.”