MotoGP’s long-planned radio revolution is no longer coming; it’s already here.
Where it goes next could change the very essence of the world championship as the sport’s fans have come to know it, and how the racers ply their trade.
At a meeting ahead of last weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix at Misano, series promoter Dorna informed the 11 MotoGP teams that from 2025, radio communication will be introduced into the sport.
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From next season, race direction will be allowed to communicate with riders during races, a one-way system aimed at improving safety by alerting riders of potential hazards on track or crashes up ahead that have been the traditional domain of trackside flag marshals, dashboard messages for riders, or left in the lap of the gods.
That’s a given, but what happens thereafter remains murky in terms of timing and scope. Autosport.com reported in the aftermath of the Misano meeting that two-way communication between riders and race direction could come on-stream as early as 2026, while a third step – allowing Formula 1-style open communication between teams and riders while adding another element to the broadcast product – doesn’t have a concrete date for implementation, but is in the works.
The ramifications of such a seismic shake-up have lit up social media in the past week, and have the riders as divided as the fans. But Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro – the grid’s oldest rider – can appreciate the wider appeal generated by the change.
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“The sooner it’s ready, the better it will be for the show,” Espargaro, one of three riders to trial Dorna’s new system at Misano, said.
“We need to try, to fail, to try again and see where we can go. But I think one of the most fun things about Formula 1 are the radios.”
How will the system work, how long has it been in the pipeline, and what do the riders themselves think? And what’s the end game for an innovation that could completely change the TV product for the sport’s global fan base while opening up a social media content stream that’s never been exploited?
HOW WE GOT HERE
The concept of radio coming into MotoGP was, at first, a response to rider safety concerns. In 2020, after the rider group had voiced concerns at the visibility of trackside flags warning of impending dangers at some circuits, a radio system was trialled at a test at Misano that season, but parked as it was found to be uncomfortable and unable to cope with the noise, a MotoGP bike at speed nearing 130 decibels.
LED flag panels became mandatory at circuits from 2022 to allay the flag visibility concerns, but the radio trials continued that season in tests in Jerez and Valencia in Spain.
In 2023, Dorna evaluated two options, one that goes around the earplugs riders already use, and the other directly onto their ears. The concept – to be able to use existing GPS data to alert riders of a crash up ahead, a track slick with oil or water, a yellow flag zone – was worked through in trials with several riders.
MotoGP finally arrived at a less intrusive mechanism that is placed in the earlobe outside of the riders’ ear, not inside, with sound being transmitted by vibration.
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At Monday’s in-season test session at Misano after last weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo – who has been involved in testing various iterations of the concept since 2022 – praised the new solution, but with several caveats.
“In the Valencia [2023 post-season] test we also used it, it’s the third time I’ve used it,” the 2021 world champion said.
“I think it’s great to have communication when something serious happens on the track. If there is oil on the track and nobody knows about it, for example. But we need to improve a little bit the audio volume.
“Under braking you can hear a little better but with the full noise of the bike, it’s complicated to really hear – when there’s a lot of noise on the straight I cannot hear anything. On the braking phase I can hear, but on braking [already] you don’t breathe, you try to be really focused.
“My crew chief told them not to talk to me in sector three [of the Misano track], the fast section. It’s a bit weird to hear people talking when you’re riding and when you’re not breathing.
“[Dorna’s head of global technology] Sergi [Sendra] is working very well on this, he has been developing it for a long time. Every step that we do [with it] is in a better direction.
“I think it’s a great idea for many reasons [but] we still have a long way to go, because with the noise of the bike it is still difficult to hear well.”
CHAMPIONS OF CHANGE, VOICES OF DISSENT
Aprilia’s Espargaro – who acknowledged in his comments about the introduction of radio communication that he’s retiring at the end of the season and won’t be on the grid for any radical change – was one of three riders along with Quartararo and Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori to test the new system at Misano earlier this week.
The 35-year-old, who first raced in MotoGP in 2009, has long been a strong voice on safety matters for riders, and praised the development of a concept that will come in after he’s hung up his race helmet, the Spaniard continuing in the sport as a test rider for Honda next season.
“The new technologies are coming [so] we need to try,” he said at Misano.
“If it’s not safe, we will not use it. We’re going to make it in time to listen to me [before retirement] but you will listen to the young riders.
“Dorna is working hard in terms of safety for the helmets, making scans, working hard with the brand manufacturers. We didn’t start yesterday, I’m the first one who started this and it’s [been] more than three years. So when it will arrive, it will be more than ready, safe and it will be very fun.”
PIT TALK PODCAST: In the San Marino GP review episode of ‘Pit Talk’, hosts Renita Vermeulen and Matt Clayton discuss Jorge Martin’s disastrous decision to pit when light rain hit the Misano circuit, Marc Marquez’s second win in seven days and if he’s a title contender, and points finishes for all four Aussies in action in Round 13 of the season.
Espargaro brushed aside concerns that adding to a rider’s workload while racing is a reason to not pursue the radio path, pointing to the proliferation of ride-height devices and other bike performance tools that need to be mastered in modern-day MotoGP.
“You have to try before claiming that it makes you lose concentration,” he reasoned.
“It’s worse to activate the rear height device every time. You need to open your hand, then brake hard to disactivate. If you told some riders five years ago that they will have to press a button in every acceleration … that’s a lot worse.”
For the broadcast product and social media fodder, Espargaro – and Aprilia teammate Maverick Vinales – saw the introduction of radio as an additional benefit.
“It can be very interesting for safety … times are changing, this kind of thing makes for a better show,” Vinales said, joking “don’t bother me” will become his “favourite” response when he wants to be left alone to concentrate on his riding.
Espargaro pointed to last weekend’s Misano race – where Ducati’s world championship leader Jorge Martin made a calamitous decision to pit for a wet-weather bike as light rain began to fall and then stopped, turning a near-certain podium into a lapped 15th-place finish after he re-pitted for his original machine – as a situation where the radio broadcasts between riders and teams could have added to the drama with the world’s TV audience eavesdropping on their conversations.
“On some circuits, it will be complicated to be able to speak, but you have to get used to the new technologies,” he said.
“Imagine in yesterday’s race, me asking the team ‘I stop, or I don’t have to stop? What do you want me to do?’ And [Espargaro’s crew chief] Antonio [Jimenez] shouting to me and I was talking to him? It can be fun for the people, I think.”
Predictably, not every rider shares Espargaro’s enthusiasm, some giving the 2025 radio concept a lukewarm response, and others outrightly opposed to its introduction.
Ducati’s Enea Bastianini commented that he wasn’t “thrilled” by the 2025 plans but was interested to try, while compatriot and fellow Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi said “it would still be wrong to say no” despite his reservations, adding “I hope they never hear me because they’ll have to add ‘beeps’ [for language] all the time.”
Bastianini’s teammate, reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia, remains a vehement opponent of radio communication for reasons of comfort and practicality, saying he’d be prepared to be financially penalised for not using it.
“I’ve tried the systems and they press on an area of the bone that starts to hurt just by pressing with my fingers for 30 seconds, not riding for 40 minutes,” he said.
“We already have all the systems to be alerted like the dashboard and the chart [pit board]. There is no need for more communication.
“I will not use anything like that. I think I will get fines at every race like Michael Jordan [for wearing unapproved red Nike sneakers in his early NBA career].”
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