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Opinion: MotoGP's Mistimed Summer Break

By David Emmett |

MotoGP returns to action at Silverstone this weekend, after five weeks off - longer than intended, due to the cancellation of the Kazakhstan round at the Sokol International Racetrack. It does so just as F1 takes its summer break, with no racing for the four-wheeled series throughout the month of August.

While the breaks are mutually beneficial - It is easy to avoid scheduling clashes in Europe for the two series with such a time away - it brings into stark contrast the relative power of the two series. Both F1 and MotoGP have a very heavy Spanish and Italian presence, with France also a major player in F1.

But anyone who has holidayed in those three countries knows that August is the month where the entire nation takes a vacation. Businesses shut down and everyone heads to either the beach or the mountains, depending on just how keen they are to escape the heat.

So if a race series is to have a summer break, August would be the month to have it. Though race teams and racing departments never really have time off, having time away from racing when family and friends are also free makes it a lot easier to organize social and family life.

Here's where I return to the contrast between the two series. It is plain that F1 comes out on top here, with MotoGP forced into a subordinate role. While the engineers at Ferrari have some time with their families, staff at Ducati Corse and Aprilia Racing are stuck in the office, parsing the data from Silverstone and Spielberg, and slaving through the weekend to try to find another few hundredths.

Having a break in July is a disadvantage in another way as well. In the countries which take August off, the fans tend to disconnect from race series as well. If that summer disconnect coincides with a break in the series, the loss of interest is relatively contained. But if a month of inaction is followed by a month where fans in key markets are not really paying attention (or don't have access to their Pay TV accounts on vacation) then a series can suffer a double dip.

What can MotoGP do about this? Nothing much, is the honest answer. As stated, it was never the intention for MotoGP to have a five-week hiatus, and only the cancellation of Kazakhstan made that happen. But a shift toward more races in July and fewer in August - barring conflicts with F1, of course - would surely be an advantage.

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Comments

I say this with the full knowledge people will immediately inform me of 47363647 counter examples, however:

Have any new circuits actually started on the calendar when they were expected to recently?

 

Other than Indonesia?

Indonesia could arguably should not have happened as well, what with the state of affairs with the new surface, etc.  if that’s the standard for round one at a new track, I’d just as soon watch another round in Europe, thanks.  

Kazakhstan seemed to like a political pipe dream anyway.  Even more fanciful than the Kimi-ring.  Or any possible India round.  

The whole Summer-break thing seems like a complete anachronism in 2023. It’s a hangover from day’s past. Factories are working most weeks/year, PC’s, wind tunnel’s, and 3D printers/CNC machines are working 24/7//52….

… and yet we have huge limitations on testing these days, so it’s not like they can really transform a bike during the break if they can’t test it.

It seems like if you opened the Urban Dictionary to “shooting yourself in the foot” there would be an example of Motogp’s Summer break.

NBA has an 82 game season (I wonder what Rossomondo is making of this), Premier League football is 38 games, we have a fraction of that and still stop for a lil’ lie down mid-season. 

It’s another example of how it is absolutely not a world sport: it may be Europe’s Summer but it is the Southern Hemisphere’s Winter, and we’re crying out for something to watch. But no, nothing to see here, move along…

 

While I completely agree with your points, I will say that while it is true that the CNC machines and 3D printers *can* run 24/7, the people who load the blanks into them, set the tooling up, and keep the coolant and oil tanks full may not. Or, for that matter, the people who run the CAD/CAM systems needed to write the programs those machines use to run the parts.

Personally, I quite like the idea of an entire month off.

I don't know if it's the same for Moto GP (can anyone enlighten me?), but F1's summer break includes an enforced 2 week holiday. Another 2 weeks over Christmas as well, mainly to prevent teams working their staff to death.

Also, 4 weeks of healing, physio and recovery for the battered grid. Ball sports might play more games, but they have rotating teams too, they also don't compete for 6-ish hours over an average weekend, or get slammed into the ground at 300kph every so often.

The timing seems unfortunate but competing with Formula 1's 4 race in 5 weeks up to August is a losing game. It might not be perfect but having a month as the premiere motorsport without competition sounds pretty good to me.

They have a big winter break. Why do they need a summer one? As mentioned, the rest of the world is 24/7/52. It’s always summer somewhere. Stay north in summer and fly south for winter. It’s natural.  Many will have a chance to factor a bucket list circuit visit in to a holiday itinerary. We don’t want/need 52 races so that leaves plenty of weeks off. If someone is so crucial to a team’s performance (like Digi) they presumably get compensated for the horrible burden of being brilliant. The rest can take a break. Riders seem to have ADHD type lifestyles to keep sharp and fit. The days of vans and old coaches are long gone.

I can wait through winter but the void returning in summer is an irritation. Dorna should require broadcasters to enable cross-border fan travel and viewing at low cost. If a subscriber is frequently using across borders they can presumably afford an upgrade.

As to why take a break at all, consider how much traveling the entire grid(s) do in a season. Including tests, the whole team (let's not forget the crew and support staff) are active, engaged and on their toes for 10 months of the year. Most professional sports (whether on wheels or played with little round balls), don't even leave their national borders during a season. I can't even imagine trying to have a decent conversation after after a flight that covers more than three time zones, let alone ride or wrench on a bike where someone's life depends on me.

And let's not forget injuries and recovery time. What if 10-20% of all the star players in an entire sports league were out on injuries at the same time (= 2-5 riders). That's the new norm in our sport. In the US, it's big news if an athlete has a pulled muscle or, heaven-forbid, a fractured finger or toe – out for three weeks! Most riders will still ride with that kind of injury. All for a small fraction of what a US professional player makes in a year. If you've ever road-raced the emotional shock of just crashing without injury just wears you down. And nothing really makes you get "used to it."

After David's excellent narrative of what it takes to build a MotoGP season schedule, I have to have sympathy for the sport to do whatever it takes to find a little breathing room for these athletes and teams.

Come on fans - suck it up! As Jack Miller would say, "No more whinging". Enjoy the great sport these folks give us while we sit on our butts and watch, beers and chips in hand : -)

Some of us actually have to perform, even if we are off our body clock or have had numerous time zones changes in a very short time  In my professional life I’ll sign for $200-300 million jet that myself and my crew have to take safely to different places around the world, maybe up to 6 -13 time zones away, either filled with weapons for the war in Ukraine, IPhones, service members waiting to go home to see their families after being deployed for a year, or for MotoGP crates for Dorna going to Narita for Japanese GP, but it something you get used, just how mechanics gets used to it. For example, the past 13 days I have flown around the world 3 times, it’s hard but very much manageable. 

 

Of course Dave makes it sounds worse than it is describing how the engineers have to keep working but he  fails to mention how rest of crew have mostly the time off, including the mechanics

Sorry mate, I’m not pickin’ up what you’re puttin’ down.

Not all of us work 9-5. As one of the thousands of folks working rigs and mines around the world, spending over half a year away from loved ones, missing births, marriages and deaths  of those same loved ones, 1000 flies crawling over your back in outback Australia/Africa, or working 12hrs/day for 3-6 weeks straight pushing pipe near the equator or rock underground, taking 2 long haul commercial (economy) flights back to back just to get in position to take a 15 hr train trip or 400km chopper flight over water with some other bloke’s knee wedged in your groin, for the delight of crapping in a squat toilet snd eating “food” estimated from photographs rather than read from recipes….I’m struggling to feel the sympathy.

Perspective is a wonderful thing. Sorry, not sorry, I feel truly blessed compared to the poor folks in places I’ve worked out of. I don’t give a rats arse if Motogp is on the telly or not but it grates that people  think they have it so hard when by almost any measure they are living a dream existence. A tough day at the track is nothing compared to kids having to humping 20 kg of water 5km, each and every day.

Seriously, it’s akin to a Ms Universe judge complaining about the quality of the contestants: zero sympathy here. 

Don’t get me started on “earning” stupendous money and then choosing to live in a tax haven: “selfish” doesn’t even come close.

Rant? Sure. Accurate? Absolutely.

 

 

 

 

 

I know exactly what you are talking about since I spent 7 years working as an AB on ships and semi semi-submersibles on Athe North Sea with extremely long hours, and in rough conditions, however my point in regards to the article is that there are  many of who are not MotoGP mechanics who have to operate to the highest level because mistakes means hundreds of people might die, again though, working longs hours with very little sleep is something you’ll get used to, just how I’m sure it’s just second nature for the experienced mechanics who are working in the paddock.