MotoGP

The 42-year-old managed to qualify fourth on his SRT debut, but admitted on Saturday he didn’t feel he was strong enough to fight for a 200th MotoGP podium come the race. Rossi struggled all weekend to get endurance out of the soft rear tyre and quickly faded from fourth to 12th by the chequered flag

KTM struggled during testing with its new bike at the Losail circuit, with the nature of the track working against the characteristics of the RC16. Those woes continued into the Qatar GP, with Binder qualifying down in 19th and only able to salvage 14th in the race after experiencing front tyre wear in the latter

Vinales stormed to victory in last Sunday’s 2021 season-opener at Losail after surmounting a quartet of Ducatis and Yamaha team-mate Fabio Quartararo. Over the winter Yamaha installed three-time MotoGP race winner Crutchlow as its new test rider, with the Briton present in the Qatar test earlier in March. Vinales says he tried Crutchlow’s bike during

Espargaro launched from 12th on the grid on Sunday in Losail but was cautious in the opening laps having had no experience of the RC213V’s behaviour on a full fuel tank. He eventually started picking his way through the pack, ending up eighth having been pipped by his Aprilia-mounted brother Aleix by 0.056 seconds on

The 2020 championship runner-up was pegged by many – including Ducati’s Jack Miller – as the favourite for victory in Sunday’s season-opener at Losail. But Morbidelli slumped to the back of the pack from seventh on the grid on the opening lap and could only salvage 18th – beating only Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori after LCR

The Spaniard had shown strong race pace throughout testing and practice for the Qatar GP, but all too often in recent years has that form disappeared when it counted and Vinales offered a meek showing on Sundays. But, despite being monstered by four Ducatis at the start, the new-and-improved Vinales took control of the improved

Miller, team-mate Francesco Bagnaia and Pramac duo Johann Zarco and Jorge Martin monstered the field off the line to occupy the top four places on the opening lap. But all of them hit trouble as the race wore on, with Miller suffering with a loss of grip late on despite making a gentle start to

Ducati has won the previous two Qatar GPs courtesy of Andrea Dovizioso, but Vinales ended that run after battling his way through the Desmosedicis after a slow start. Poleman Francesco Bagnaia led a Ducati charge off the line, as team-mate Jack Miller, Pramac’s Johann Zarco and his rookie team-mate Jorge Martin from 14th on the

Bagnaia smashed the Qatar lap record on Saturday with a 1m52.772s to score his first pole position in the premier class on his debut as a Ducati factory team rider. The Italian’s pace during testing made him one of the favourites for the race, but he doesn’t believe he will be able to copy the

In a stunning show of speed in qualifying, Bagnaia destroyed the lap record at the Losail International Circuit with a 1m52.772s to take his first premier class pole position, beating a trio of Yamaha riders in the process.  Fabio Quartararo led the charge for Yamaha to take second place ahead of team-mate Maverick Vinales, with

Mir ended Friday “very pissed off” after missing a place in Q2, with suboptimal track conditions on Saturday in FP3 resigning the defending champion to running in Q1. The Suzuki rider managed to progress into Q2, but could only manage 10th and almost a second slower than poleman Francesco Bagnaia’s Ducati. Explaining his issues, Mir

Miller ended Friday’s running fastest of all after posting a 1m53.387s in the second session, leading a Ducati 1-2 ahead of factory team-mate Francesco Bagnaia. Morbidelli topped FP1 after setting his best effort on a 16-lap-old rear tyre, and was 0.289s off Miller’s time in seventh on the combined order after FP2. Miller admits the

The former KTM rider, who has joined Honda this season after four years on the Austrian company’s machines, admitted during Qatar pre-season testing that not being able to know the limit of the front end of the Honda was “stressful” and felt he could only do this by crashing. Although he did fall during the test,

With an engine development freeze carrying over into the start of 2021 for all but Aprilia and KTM, Yamaha’s power deficit to its rivals – and Ducati in particular – remains substantial. This is accentuated in Qatar owing to Losail’s one kilometre long main straight, with the fastest Ducati clocking 354km/h during Friday practice, while

Zarco stepped up to the premier class in 2017 with Tech3 Yamaha as reigning double Moto2 world champion, scoring six podiums across his first two years. However, he has only claimed one podium since then following a miserable half-season with KTM in 2019 and mixed campaign with Avintia Ducati last year. Zarco has been promoted

The fundamental rule surrounding track limits has not changed as such for 2021, but the policing has become stricter. Last season, riders could go one wheel off circuit onto the painted run-off area and still keep their lap times, while both wheels off-track resulted in that sector – and ultimately the lap – being cancelled

Honda announced on Monday that, following consultation from his doctors, Marquez would not stage his long-awaited MotoGP return in the season-opening Qatar double-header despite his accelerated training programme. The six-time world champion was cleared to begin riding motorcycles again earlier this month and undertook two trackdays at Barcelona and the Algarve on a Honda RC213V-S,

The Petronas SRT rider came to within 13 points of the 2020 title on his older ‘A-spec’ Yamaha after winning three races and emerging as the Japanese marque’s leading runner. Despite remaining on the ‘A-spec’ M1 – which was given “substantial” updates during testing – many expect Morbidelli to once again be a factor in

The Honda rider has only recently been able to start training on motorcycles again following his third operation on the right arm he broke in last July’s Spanish GP. Despite this, videos of the six-time world champion tearing up the Barcelona and Algarve circuits aboard an RC213V-S track bike led almost the entire MotoGP paddock

Honda had a mixed test in Qatar last week after its riders registered 10 crashes across four days, with Marquez accounting for five of those – the last one resulting in a fractured foot. The Japanese marque’s top rider at the end of testing was factory team rookie Pol Espargaro in 10th, 0.716 seconds off

Honda announced on Monday Marquez would not make his long-awaited MotoGP return from injury in this weekend’s season-opening Qatar GP having been advised against doing so by his doctors. Marquez then confirmed his absence would extend to the Doha GP also, with the Spaniard set for another check-up by doctors on 12 April ahead of

Marquez has been out of action since last July when he broke his right arm in a heavy fall during the opening Spanish Grand Prix. He will undergo a further medical check-up on 12 April according to Honda, which also rules him out of the Doha GP in Qatar next weekend. HRC is yet to

The three-time MotoGP race winner will once again race on the older ‘A-spec’ version of Yamaha’s MotoGP challenger in 2021, despite ending last season as its top rider in second in the championship. The bike Morbidelli rode last year was essentially a slightly modified 2019 M1, but Yamaha brought upgrades to the bike for Qatar

Fabio Quartararo believes Yamaha will be better able to “prepare something” with its MotoGP bike when it encounters difficult moments this season unlike in 2020. The factory Yamaha rider managed to win three races last year when he rode for Petronas SRT and led the championship up until the Aragon Grand Prix, when a sharp

Ducati has refreshed its factory line-up for 2021, bringing in former Pramac pair Miller and Bagnaia to replace the ousted Andrea Dovizioso and Danilo Petrucci. Miller ended pre-season testing fastest of all with an unofficial lap record in Qatar of 1m53.183s, while 2018 Moto2 champion Bagnaia was just 0.281s behind him in fifth. Many in

Last year’s Moto2 runner-up, Marini, is one of three rookies signed to Ducati for the 2021 season, alongside reigning Moto2 world champion team-mate Enea Bastianini and Pramac’s Jorge Martin. Marini ended the Qatar pre-season test 21st overall, five spots clear of slowest rookie Lorenzo Savadori on the Aprilia, and was satisfied with his progress in

Silverstone is hopeful of welcoming back fans to the F1 British Grand Prix in July after racing behind closed doors last year, as well as bringing MotoGP back to the track after a year’s hiatus. The circuit said last April that it intended to show its thanks to the key workers from the pandemic by

Dovizioso is currently on a sabbatical after being ousted from his place at the factory Ducati squad at the end of 2020 as the relationship between himself and general manager Gigi Dall’Igna soured. The three-time MotoGP title runner-up was offered a race seat with Aprilia for 2021, but turned down the offer as at the

The nine-time grand prix title winner begins his 26th season in the world championship with the satellite Yamaha squad Petronas SRT, replacing new factory team rider Fabio Quartararo. PLUS: What we learned from MotoGP pre-season testing Despite an initially tricky start to testing – which he blamed on a weight balance setting which didn’t work

Marquez has been out of action since last July’s Andalusian Grand Prix when he broke his right arm in the opening Jerez race, and has since undergone three operations. The six-time MotoGP world champion’s arm is now recovering and he has begun his preparations for staging his return in 2021, having been able to start