The MotoGP™ championship is the world’s premier motorcycle racing series, featuring the most talented riders on earth, doing battle each year over an exciting season of 22 Grands Prix.
Known to many simply as MotoGP™, the full title of the series is the FIM Grand Prix World Championship. The competition is the most elite level of motorcycle sport, overseen by its governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM).
The FIM, along with the organisers and commercial rights holders of MotoGP™, Dorna Sports, define and implement the rules and regulations of the World Championship, in collaboration with the International Road Racing Teams Association (IRTA) and the Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association (MSMA).
Updates to the MotoGP™ rules are decided through the Grand Prix Commission, composed of Carmelo Ezpeleta (CEO of Dorna, Chairman), Paul Duparc (representing the FIM), Hervé Poncharal (President of IRTA) and Biense Bierma (representing the MSMA).
In this complete guide to how the MotoGP™ championship works we will run through the details of what happens on a MotoGP™ race weekend, how the series is structured and the key rules that the participating teams and riders must adhere to.
Meanwhile, fans can also peruse the MotoGP™ rules and regulations section of our website for more in-depth video explainers on numerous technical and sporting aspects of the championship.
Understanding the MotoGP™ race weekend format
During the MotoGP™ season, which runs annually from March to November, races are held across the globe, making the World Championship a truly international affair. In 2025, for example, Grands Prix are being hosted in 18 countries, starting with the Thai GP in early March and concluding in Spain with the Valencia GP from 14th-16th November.
At each Grand Prix the typical MotoGP™ race weekend format for the premier class – the highest level of racing - goes something like this:
- Friday morning, 45-minute session: Free Practice 1
- Friday afternoon, 60-minute session timed for entry into Qualifying 2: Practice
- Saturday morning, 30-minute session: Free Practice 2
- Saturday morning, 15-minute session: Qualifying 1 (Q1)
- Saturday morning, 15-minute session: Qualifying 2 (Q2)
- Saturday afternoon: MotoGP™ Sprint
- Sunday morning: Warm-up
- Sunday afternoon: Race
During the practice sessions the MotoGP™ riders use these periods of track time to familiarise themselves with the circuit and the conditions, test their bikes, set fast laps and prepare for the qualifying sessions.
During the qualifying sessions the riders compete for grid positions for the MotoGP™ Sprint and Sunday’s GP race, it’s the same grid for both races. With 22 of the fastest riders on the planet doing battle, the higher up the grid they can qualify the higher their chances of winning the Sprint and the race.
The ten fastest riders from the Friday practice sessions go straight into Q2, whilst the two fastest riders from Q1 also make it into Q2.
The results of Q1 dictate the grid positions for the MotoGP™ Sprint and full race from 13th backwards. In Q2 the leading position on the grid - known as pole – is contested, along with the 2nd to 12th places on the starting grid. In order to be allowed to race and go into qualifying, riders must set a lap time which is at least equal to 105% of the fastest rider’s lap time in the Free Practice or Practice sessions. Then they’re allowed into Q1 or Q2 to decide exactly where they’ll start from.
As of the 2023 season the Sprint became part of the MotoGP™ structure, taking place on Saturday afternoons of Grand Prix weekends, with these races being disputed over distances which are approximately half of those covered in the ‘feature length’ full Sunday races.
As the culmination of a Grand Prix, Sunday afternoon’s full MotoGP™ races typically commence at 2pm local time, usually lasting between 40 and 45 minutes and covering total distances from 100km to 130km, depending on the length of the circuit.
As well as the premier class of the MotoGP™ World Championship, in which the sport’s best riders compete on 1000cc motorcycles, there are two further categories of racing on smaller bikes: Moto2™ and Moto3™, as well as the electric MotoE™ championship.
There is no Saturday Sprint in Moto2™ and Moto3™, but from 2024 the practice and qualifying session structures are the same to MotoGP™. In Moto2™ the riders use the same 765cc three-cylinder Triumph engines, whilst in Moto3™ it’s 250cc single-cylinder engines from different factories.
The MotoE™ World Championship is contested on electric motorcycles supplied by Ducati, with every rider on the same V21L machinery. They have two practices on Friday, qualifying on Friday afternoon, and then race twice on Saturday: once just before the MotoGP Sprint and once right after.
The Moto2™ and Moto3™ riders compete at all the same Grands Prix as the MotoGP™ riders and MotoE™ features at seven Grands Prix in 2024.
How the MotoGP™ championship is structured
The MotoGP™ World Championship is an annual competition of 22 Grands Prix to crown the title winner, with riders accumulating points, race-by-race, over the course of the season.
In each full MotoGP™ race the first 15 riders to finish are awarded points which count towards their tally in the MotoGP™ standings.
The race winner earns 25 points, whilst it’s 20 points for the rider in second place and 15 for the rider who is third. After the top three, the riders placing fourth to 15th respectively gain the following amount of points: 13, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point.
In the MotoGP™ Sprint the point allocation system is different, with the top nine finishers earning points. The Sprint winner takes 12 points, then it’s 9 for second place, 7 for the rider in third, 6 for fourth place, then one less point per position down to a single point for finishing ninth.
The most points an individual rider can earn at one Grand Prix is therefore 37 and the rider with the most points accumulated in the season is crowned the MotoGP™ World Champion.
In a season of 22 Grands Prix the maximum possible point tally would be 814, though winning every race in a year is extremely improbable.
‘Crashing out’ of MotoGP™ races and therefore not scoring points in a specific race, or missing races due to injury, is not uncommon and whilst it can be costly for a rider, it does not completely scupper their title chances. Consistency is often key - over 22 races there is room for momentum to swing one way or the other!
Putting it into perspective, a total of 467 points made Francesco Bagnaia the 2023 MotoGP™ title winner with a 39 point margin over Jorge Martin in second place, following a season of 20 Grands Prix, in which a maximum tally of 740 points were available.
In 2024 it was Martin who took the title with 508 points from the maximum available score of 740 from the 20 Grands Prix that season, with Bagnaia scoring 498. Bagnaia won an incredible 11 of the 20 Sunday races in 2024, but it still wasn’t enough.
Key rules every MotoGP™ fan should know
The MotoGP™ rules are defined formally in the FIM Grand Prix World Championship Regulations, a document which evolves over time. The Grand Prix Commission liaises with the sports’ main stakeholders to ensure that the rules are enforced fairly and updated when necessary.
The spirit of the rules is to create an exciting and fair sporting spectacle for the fans to watch, whilst providing the manufacturers with a platform on which to prove their competitiveness, at the same time as developing the very latest motorcycle technology.
For the riders the rules are there to protect their safety, to encourage sportsmanship and to promote fair racing in which they can demonstrate their talent.
Those interested can dive deeper into the topic in our detailed ‘What are the MotoGP Rules?’ article, which goes beyond the basics which we will cover here.
At the top level of Grand Prix racing in the MotoGP™ premier class the riders do battle on prototypes – bikes which are not homologated for use on the road. They’re made just for MotoGP.
MotoGP™ bikes must be of a minimum weight of 157kg, with a maximum displacement of 1000cm3, e.g. 1000cc. Each rider is allocated with seven engines per season and a specific number of tyres per event, whilst the bikes must not carry more than 22 litres of fuel in any session or race.
The riders in MotoGP™ are expected to follow a code of conduct and stick to the rules to protect their own safety and that of their rivals, whilst competing in a sporting manner.
The riders face penalties of varying seriousness if they infringe on the Sporting Regulations of MotoGP™. These are decided and applied by the FIM MotoGP Stewards.
Those penalties include warnings, fines, changes of position (conceding a position to another rider on track), long lap penalties, ride throughs, time penalties and grid penalties.
For more serious rule violations rider can face disqualification, the withdrawal of championship points, suspensions from racing or a complete exclusion, in the form of a ban from taking part in any activity under FIM control.
A long lap penalty, as referred to above, means a rider must go through an extended area of the track which adds an average of three seconds to their lap, often resulting in the loss of a position or two.
Meanwhile, ride through penalties involve having to pass through pit lane, which loses far more time for the rider. It’s usually longer and in pitlane the speed limit is 300km/h lower than the top speed for their machines.
It is not uncommon during Grands Prix to see riders face these sanctions. For typical infringements such as these the riders face the respective penalties stated:
- Jump start (Formally called ‘Anticipating the start’): Two Long Lap Penalties.
- Exceeding pit lane speed limit of 60km/h: Two Long Lap Penalties.
- Exceeding track limits: Long Lap Penalty during a race or annulment of lap time in practice or qualifying.
- Irresponsible riding: FIM MotoGP™ Stewards Panel applies penalty at their discretion depending on severity of action
- Slow riding (waiting for space on track or ‘waiting’ to follow and slipstream another rider in practice and qualifying): Grid penalty
- Ignoring a penalty repeatedly: Time penalty or ride through
During sessions or races the MotoGP™ riders also have to acknowledge and react to the various flags which can be waved at trackside or displayed on the dashboards of their bikes.
The flags have the following meanings:
- Red flag: interruption or end of a race or practice session due to safety reasons. Riders have to slow down and immediately head back to the pit lane.
- Black flag with orange disk: If displayed with the rider’s number, it indicates to them that a technical issue on their bike could impact their safety and the safety of others. The rider must leave the track as quickly and safely as possible.
- Black flag: Indicates disqualification. When shown together with their rider number, it means the rider must return to their pit box immediately.
- Yellow flag: advises the riders that there is a dangerous situation nearby. Under the yellow flags riders may not pass other riders in that sector of the track.
- White flag: shown when it starts raining and allows the MotoGP™ riders to go back to pit lane to swap to a bike with wet set-up
There are also some important regulations relating to the tyres used in Grands Prix and official tests.
The Official tyre supplier in the premier class in MotoGP™ is Michelin, who provide three slick tyre specifications at each Grand Prix, in terms of compound softness, to offer durability and grip.
Every MotoGP™ rider gets the following tyre allocation for each GP:
- 12 rear slick tyres and 10 front slick tyres
- Seven rear rain tyres and six front rain tyres
The MotoGP™ championship participants must decide whether slick tyres or rain tyres will provide the best performance in practice, qualifying or races, depending on the track conditions – which can be dry, wet or wet-drying.
The riders must also use their tyre allocation strategically within the rules of MotoGP™, judging with their teams when to use the different slick tyre specifications.
When pushing for fast laps in practice and qualifying riders typically use new, soft tyre options, whereas in races they must decide which specification of slick tyre will best match their riding style and tactics.
The teams in MotoGP™ are obliged to comply fully with the championship’s official tyre supplier and Technical Director, to allow their tyre parameters to be checked at any time, including temperature and tyre pressure data.
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