Steiner and riders hit out at MotoGP's one-bike plan

Tech3 team boss Guenther Steiner has backed the MotoGP riders in decrying the idea of switching the series to a single-bike format in 2027.

MotoGP teams make two machines available to each of their riders at all times during the weekend, with a change possible in-session - including in wet-weather races, when riders often end up coming into the pitlane to jump from their 'wet' bikes to their 'dry' bikes or vice versa.

But this has been targeted as a potential area of cost-saving ahead of the switch to new regulations next year, with Motorsport.com's Oriol Puigdemont reporting last week that a new rule could be introduced that would limit riders to just one bike in the garage (and likely a spare that could be introduced into the weekend upon request).

A topic of public discussion during the Italian Grand Prix media day, the idea was roundly excoriated by riders, with KTM's Pedro Acosta most firm in saying "it's a really bad idea" but many others speaking in unison.

And the riders gained a surprise ally in Steiner, despite the Tech3 boss coming over from Formula 1 - where one-car-per-driver is now the norm and has been for a long time after the previous one spare car per team system was scrapped on cost grounds.

"This one, I was just waiting for that. Because now I don't stop talking to you guys!" said Steiner jovially when asked about the potential savings of going to one available bike.

"Maybe I'm too dumb to understand it, but I don't think what the saving is by having two or one bike - less mechanics? Somebody needs to explain that to me.

“You need a second bike anyway, but you've got the bits and pieces behind the wall, correct? So if you need to put it together, do you think you need more or less people? I don't think you need less. Maybe you don't need more in the beginning - but it will end up that you will actually bring more people. Because you have a crash, the main bike is crash-party, you know?

"We steal from the show, for the spectators, and who is the most important part of any sport? The fans out there. If we take the [second] bikes away, we think we save money.

"I personally think there is no saving, I was told there is a small saving. One mechanic a year.

"If you want to save money, there's a very easy solution. The budget cap. I mean, it has worked somewhere else, and we all know where it worked. To very good results, you know? The solution is so easy, you know. 

"[Or] go less testing, very easy. [Banning] the second bike, I think we are taking away from the spectacle. For no good reason.

"I'm quite passionate about that one. I don't get it."

Stealing from the show

The riders aren't a totally united front when it comes to this matter as some are clearly less passionate about it than others - with Honda rider Joan Mir one figure who said that it would be "fine", as it was already the case in Moto2 and Moto3 and thus "not something to worry" about.

But team-mate Luca Marini was emphatic in feeling it would be a decision robbing from the entertainment side of things.

"I think for the show it's just worse. One of the best things is seeing a rider crash in qualifying and run, jump on the other bike and make the pole position with the other bike. I think it's something really good to see, gives you a lot of adrenaline.

"If it's a matter of cost, money, I don't think it would change anything. 

"For a manufacturer, I don't think one mechanic makes a difference in all the budget. I think changing from 1000cc engines from 850cc is a much more expensive idea - but that's already done."

And Steiner too is clear MotoGP should be taking away from one of the unique selling points of its product.

"A flag-to-flag race - what is cooler than a rider jumping in the rain on a bike with a rain tyre on?

"I mean, look at the social media results. When that happens, it is booming. 

"For me, you crash in a practice - you jump on a scooter [on a service road and get back], you jump on a bike again. It's f**king cool.

"I understand [having just one] in Moto2 and Moto3. But MotoGP is the pinnacle.

"You don't have it anywhere else. It's something unique. Why do we have to make it 'bone dry' like everything else. It's something which stands out in MotoGP. It's what I always say - MotoGP can write their own story, they don't need to always look at something else.

"I mean, a flag-to-flag race. There's nothing [like it]. You see it, 'these guys must be nuts'."

Those in favour "on an island"

Steiner, whose Tech3 team has re-committed to a close partnership with KTM from 2027 onwards, said he did not know which manufacturer was the originator of the idea - but felt that "common sense" and majority preference in the paddock needs to prevail.

"The manufacturers are for it, it seems like. But I haven't understood who really is driving this, you know?," he said. 

"Because Dorna is not for it. It's obvious - we take away from their show.

"But the manufacturers - they are taking away from their own show! It's their show, it's not my show or your show. It's their show where they can show their product, you know. For the gain, which, if there is any… I think people come to their senses and realise that, actually, it's one of these ideas that wasn't very good.

“But you know, sometimes, it's more ego getting in the way, in admitting that it was an idea which wasn't very good."

The wrangling over the number of bikes appears to be part of what is known to have been a very fractious wider negotiation between the manufacturers (represented by the MSMA manufacturers' association) and series' long-time promoter Dorna (now MotoGP Sports Entertainment Group) and its new owner Liberty Media.

The hashing out of new commercial contracts for 2027 and beyond between the series and the five manufacturers is known to have been extremely arduous, and has been responsible for what is now a months-long delay in unveiling several blockbuster rider signings made by manufacturers for '27.

Steiner continued: "The common sense is the fans like two bikes, Dorna likes two bikes, the riders like two bikes. I cannot talk for the independent teams, because I think we haven't discussed it in IRTA, with Lucio [Cecchinello, LCR boss and head of the independent teams' association IRTA] - but I think most of the independent teams want two bikes. I think there is a majority - and the governance should give credit to the majority.

"I don't know which manufacturers are so adamant on it. They put themselves on an island here."