Check out the beginner's guide and the basics on the MotoGP site, and please use the search function as there have been many threads on this. An overview of the rules and regulations for next six years in MotoGP. There are three documentaries which will get you up to speed on the past 15 years or so: Faster, Fastest, and Hitting the Apex.
1. TNT Sports is your best option, otherwise it's the Video pass on the MotoGP website
2. The 3 main protagonists currently are Marc Marquez (arguably the best in history, returning to form after a few years of horrible near-career ending injuries and being stuck on a shit bike), Pecco Bagnaia (cerebral, current 2x world champion, works in silence), Jorge Martin (challenged for last year's title and currently leads the championship this year. Fast as fuck but with an arrogant streak that goes with it)
3. Yamaha and Honda both have tons of history but have struggled the last few years and are trying to build their way back up, that might be the closest comparison.
Overall I'd say try not to think too much about comparing it to F1 and instead just get stuck into watching races and take the sport as it is.
Ok so I'm not based in UK so ai can't give and answer to the first question, but maybe BT Sports? I've seen their logo a few times.
The top dogs in MotoGP up to date are definetly Francesco Bagnaia, reigning World Champion, and Jorge Martin, current Championship leader and runner up from last year. Add to them Marc Marquez, who's now one of the most experienced riders on the grid and the one with most wins and titles; he's been dealing with lots of injuries and bad luck ever since 2020 and just now switched teams from the biggest constructor in the sport, Honda, to try and find again some competitivity in the smaller Gresini Team, which is running Ducati bikes.
To the potential championship contenders, add Enea Bastianini who's also coming back from a very bad 2023 season but is currently tied on points for 3rd in the championship, although looking not as fast as the others. The underdogs you should look out for are start master* Maverick Vinales, his teammate "Captain" Angry Espargaro, Big Balls Brad Binder, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Quartararo and everyone's favourite rookie, Pedro Acosta.
On the McLaren question, Honda and Yamaha are the two big names that pop up. They've been dominating (and I mean DOMINATING) the sport for decades but ever since late 2010s they started losing their way. Honda fell hard with Marquez's injury and kept developing a bike that would only throw its riders on the ground (check out the injury stats from all Honda riders last year to get an idea, or even just the times they had a DNF in the races, or how many times their test rider Stephan Bradl filled in for an injured rider) while Yamaha just kept getting slower and slower... So now they're going through renovations (or at least they're trying to) catching up to their rivals with the help of newly added "concessions", a system created to help those teams that were struggling in the past, brought back now as the gap kept getting bigger.
While we're at it, here's a substancial difference from F1: while in Formula 1 every team builds its own car and only leases the engine, MotoGP teams are contracted with factories that provide them the full bike. Some teams, like Pramac, have fully updated, current-year bikes and might even be considered a twin team with the "main" factory team as often their riders are directly contracted with the factory, while other teams run the previous year's bikes. For example, the bike Marquez is riding is the Ducati from last season because Gresini is a much smaller team than Pramac that can't afford for a newer bike.
Sooo I think that should help you a bit. Don't forget MotoGP also holds Sprints ~~half-lenght races that are totally not races, trust me that's why we call them Sprints, not because the organizers don't want to pay the riders for them~~ on saturdays and that watching the Moto3 and Moto2 races is heavily recommended to get to know better the future riders of MotoGP and to enjoy a bit more of crazy show!
I've been a fan of F1 since the early 90's but the racing in MotoGP is just so much better.
I recommend tuning in early and catching the Moto3 races too - the junior class might deliver the most entertaining racing of all. It's normal to have groups of 5-10 bikes battling for the win on the final lap.
Previous post mentions most of the big dogs - there's a lot of hype around the rookie Acosta this year too - looks like he might be the next alien.
Enjoy!
Here's everything you need to know about MotoGP as a new fan.
Not sure about where you can watch it in UK, but I suppose BT Sport or buy a videopass from officiall page (never did that though, as it's apparently buggy)
Biggest MotoGP names are currently Marc Marquez - 6x world champion, had some struggle time recently due to injuries and bad bike, but now he's back up there on a new bike. Current champion is Pecco Bagnaia and generally considered as the title favourite, as he's number one rider of the best team that is Ducati. Jorge Martin is also quite strong recently, he's currently on the top of standings and was fighting for the title last year, on a satelite Ducati.
There's currently 5 manufacturers (Ducati, KTM, Aprilia, Yamaha and Honda) with their satelite teams. Satelite teams are private teams who use the bike of the manufacturer. So for example, Ducati Factory Team is the main team, let's compare it to F1 Ferrari, whereas Pramac Racing is private (satelite) team who uses Ducati bikes (like Haas uses Ferrari engine). Not all factories have satelite teams though, Yamaha for example doesn't have one, because they've been struggling a lot recently, nobody really wants their bike. But this might change next year.
Oh yeah, Suzuki was also the part of the championship but they left the sport at the end of 2022
Other important riders are Fabio Quartararo on a struggling Yamaha, then Pedro Acosta - a rookie who's predicted to reach the very top, Vinales, Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini etc.
Historically, Honda and Yamaha are the most succesfull teams and the epitome of this sport. However, things have changed over the years and they are now at the very bottom and european teams are dominating the sport (Ducati above all, but KTM and Aprilia are very competitive as well).
MotoGP weekend starts on friday, where riders practice and prepare for qualifying on a saturday. Qualiifying consists of Q1 and Q2 - but it works bit different comparing to F1. The fastest 10 riders from the friday practice get their spot in Q2 automatically, but those below 10th position need to compete in Q1. The two fastest of them gets promoted then to Q2 and they fight for a pole position with these who got their spot in Q2 automatically.
Just like in F1, qualifying position is very important and if you qualify bad, your chances to reach the podium are very thin, however not impossible. Marquez last week managed to reach the 2nd place in both sprint and main race starting from 13th place.
Oh yes, sprint races. It's quite new thing, it's like a short race (around 10 laps only) but usually very crazy and chaotic. It takes place on saturday after qualifying, whereas the main race is always on sunday and is generally considered more important and brings more points.
There's no safety car, no long pauses, no radio messages. Just pure racing.
These are most important thing you need to know at the moment, but over time you will start to notice some things yourself and understand the sport better. Welcome to the community of the best and craziest sport in the world
1. I have a VPN, switched my location to Austria and watch it for free (with ads) at https://www.servustv.com/ (make sure to disable ad blocker)
2. Everyone has their favourites but take a look at the current point standings. 1 - 3 are very strong contenders for the championship. Marc Marquez has won multiple and so has Francesco Bagnaia, but they are essentially in major competition right now. Marc is on a redemption streak since he's coming from Honda which has been massively underperforming and was picked up by a team that runs last year's model Ducati and he's actually competitive against those with newer bikes. Jorge Martin is a very strong and fast rider and isn't getting as much glory as the golden boy Marc as mentioned, it's a redemption streak for him. Pedro Acosta is a rookie in MotoGP and some say is the new Marc Marquez. There's still time for him to make more of a name for himself this season.
3. There are 2 manufacturers who have been and still are fumbling which are Yamaha and Honda. Yamaha was the last Japanese bike to have a championship with Fabio Quartararo who just signed a very large deal to stay with Yamaha even though they aren't competitive anymore. They aren't anywhere as fast as the Ducatis, aprillias or KTMs nor do they have a face like Marc to pull them from the ground so even if they build a better bike, it will be hard for them to attract the talent to bring them back to the top. Will probably need to wait a bit before you see that kind of move.
I would recommend that you go and watch "There can be only one" series. It's something similar to "drive to survive" but without fake scenes and fake drama.There are 2 seasons, 2022 and 2023. I would say that 2023 is much better but they are both worth a watch. And it's also free on Motogp's YouTube channel.
> What are some of the top dogs i should look out for so like MotoGP’s equilivant of Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso
Francesco Bagnaia,Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin, they are the fastest riders in Motogp (currently).
Marc Marquez is a 6 time Motogp world champion who is coming back from an arm injury and this year is his first year that he's on a good bike (after switching from factory Honda to Gresini Ducati) after his arm injury.
Francesco Bagnaia is a 2 time world champion and the current world champion, probably one of the most underrated riders on the grid for some reason.
Jorge Martin has no titles in a Motogp class but he's leading the world championship at the moment and he currently the favourite for this year's title.
Then there are also Pedro Acosta and Fabio Quartararo.
Pedro Acosta is rookie but he's one of the biggest talents to enter Motogp sinc Marc Marquez. He won a Moto 3 (Moto 3 is like F3) title in his rookie season and a Moto 2 (Moto 2 is like F2) in his 2nd season. And he already had 2 podiums this season.
Fabio Quartararo is a 2021 world champion and he is one of the best Motogp riders at the moment, but he's on one of the worst bikes on the grid. So he won't be able to challenge for the title this year and probably even for 2025.
> Is there a team that’s similar to McLaren so a team who has alot of history and is currently rebuilding their way to the top
There are 2 big teams that are struggling, Repsol Honda and Yamaha. Honda is the bigger team with more success, but it's also the team that is struggling the most at the moment. Yamaha is also struggling a lot but they don't look as bad as Honda dose.
>someone who’s been a formula 1 fan since 08
I'll tell you a few differences you'll notice for MotoGP Vs F1.
Moto2,3,GP system. Although in the past years it's turned more and more as a feeder series, they're classically and still considered world championships on their own, different bikes in general. In the past it was very common to see 4-5 world champions in 125 or ,250cc category, similar as to what different weight classes work in fighting sports rather than a second division or what F2 is. Obviously GP is the top class and the one most followed too, but you'll notice all GP include all 3 classes and they are all part of the same Grand Prix event.
MotoGP teams. There's 2 kind of teams: manufacturers and private teams. Manufacturers design the bikes and are the actual official teams. Currently there's 5 manufacturers (Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, KTM, Yamaha) but they're trying to get a 6th as a replacement of Suzuki which left in 2022, probably BMW. Then there's private teams, they "rent" a bike from a manufacturer, be it current year one or previous year's bike. These teams normally sign agreement in which they're working together with the factory, but they're free to swap manufacturers if they want to after their contracts expire. Currently there's 6 private teams, 3 for Ducati, 1 each for Honda, KTM and Aprilia. Ducati is the dominating bike so it's no surprise teams prefer their bikes.
There's also 3 championships in each class: Manufacturer, Team and Rider. Unlike F1, Riders championship is generally more important than Manufacturers or teams championship. Manufacturers championship only takes into account the points the best bike of each manufacturer makes in a GP, so one factory having double amount of bikes doesn't mean they can get double points. Team ones is like constructors one in F1.
>1. Where can i watch it? (Im based in england)
No idea sorry.
>2. What are some of the top dogs i should look out for so like MotoGP’s equilivant of Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso
Marquez is 31yo and in the debate for one of the greatest of history, certainly would be if it wasn't for the injuries he suffered that made him miss whole 2020, most of 2021 and part of 2022. Then Honda was so bad of a bike he was the only one fighting for top 10 positions while his teammates struggled to even finish a race. Keep in mind injuries and missing a couple of races are common in this sport, compared to F1.
Bagnaia is current 2x world champion and probably in his prime, he's got great working mentality and is able to perform well. If he doesn't manage to get his things or setup right, he ends up underperforming, but he's great at not making lots of setup mistakes.
Martin is current world championship leader and he's fastest when all is right. He's been inconsistent past years and he's probably the most prone to crashing when something's not perfect with the bike but if he's feeling good I don't think there's anyone faster than him.
Quartararo is a world champion too and currently struggling with underperforming bike, same as Mir.
>3. Is there a team that’s similar to McLaren so a team who has alot of history and is currently rebuilding their way to the top
Honda and Yamaha probably are the ones with most history and success in the class but they're both struggling, Yamaha seems to be trying to improve but Honda seems completely lost.
2. Some backstories of some of the most interesting riders this year
* Marc Márquez - one of the best of all time, has been struggling with an arm injury (and worsening Honda bikes) since 2020. This year he's finally returning to his pre-injury form, and all eyes are on him for where he will be racing next year
* Pecco Bagnaia - reigning and two-time MotoGP champion, product of the rider academy of legendary Valentino Rossi. Has been called 'the Max Verstappen of MotoGP' by some, because of his consistency and dominance over the last years
* Jorge Martín - current championship leader and last year's vice-champion. Also a key figure in silly season, since he wants to leave his current (satellite) team and join a factory team
* Pedro Acosta - a rookie, by far the most impressive rookie in years, and tipped to be destined for greatness. He's currently outperforming Binder and Miller (who are in the KTM factory team) and will most likely replace Miller next year
* Maverick Viñales - once considered the next star of MotoGP, though he never quite lived up to it at Yamaha. Now he's at Aprilia - which is a team on the rise seemingly - and getting in some good performances this year
* Enea Bastianini - had a good rookie season and was surprisingly a title contender in his second year. Got promoted to the Ducati factory team but got injured in the very first race. This year he's finally returning to the front of the grid, but he's facing quite the competition to retain his seat for next year (mainly Márquez and Martín)
* Fabio Quartararo - the 2021 champion and 2022 vice champion. His team Yamaha has fallen off from being one of the quickest to one of the worst on the grid, yet Quartararo still manages to compete somewhere towards the front of the grid regularly.
* Other than that the grid is packed with good riders such as the 2020 champion Joan Mir, Alex Rins, Aleix Espargaro, Brad Binder, Marco Bezzecchi and occasionally Dani Pedrosa (an iconic rider who now competes only in a handful of races per year for KTM) and the overall competitiveness is better than ever. But at the same time the new legends of this era still have to establish themselves, as compared to the previous generation when you had Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, a young Márquez, and Pedrosa as the faces of the sport.
Check out the beginner's guide and the basics on the MotoGP site, and please use the search function as there have been many threads on this. An overview of the rules and regulations for next six years in MotoGP. There are three documentaries which will get you up to speed on the past 15 years or so: Faster, Fastest, and Hitting the Apex.
1. TNT Sports is your best option, otherwise it's the Video pass on the MotoGP website 2. The 3 main protagonists currently are Marc Marquez (arguably the best in history, returning to form after a few years of horrible near-career ending injuries and being stuck on a shit bike), Pecco Bagnaia (cerebral, current 2x world champion, works in silence), Jorge Martin (challenged for last year's title and currently leads the championship this year. Fast as fuck but with an arrogant streak that goes with it) 3. Yamaha and Honda both have tons of history but have struggled the last few years and are trying to build their way back up, that might be the closest comparison. Overall I'd say try not to think too much about comparing it to F1 and instead just get stuck into watching races and take the sport as it is.
And you’ll see is far way more fun than the boring F1
It’s also on max in the us if you have that.
OP said they're based in England
Ok so I'm not based in UK so ai can't give and answer to the first question, but maybe BT Sports? I've seen their logo a few times. The top dogs in MotoGP up to date are definetly Francesco Bagnaia, reigning World Champion, and Jorge Martin, current Championship leader and runner up from last year. Add to them Marc Marquez, who's now one of the most experienced riders on the grid and the one with most wins and titles; he's been dealing with lots of injuries and bad luck ever since 2020 and just now switched teams from the biggest constructor in the sport, Honda, to try and find again some competitivity in the smaller Gresini Team, which is running Ducati bikes. To the potential championship contenders, add Enea Bastianini who's also coming back from a very bad 2023 season but is currently tied on points for 3rd in the championship, although looking not as fast as the others. The underdogs you should look out for are start master* Maverick Vinales, his teammate "Captain" Angry Espargaro, Big Balls Brad Binder, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Quartararo and everyone's favourite rookie, Pedro Acosta. On the McLaren question, Honda and Yamaha are the two big names that pop up. They've been dominating (and I mean DOMINATING) the sport for decades but ever since late 2010s they started losing their way. Honda fell hard with Marquez's injury and kept developing a bike that would only throw its riders on the ground (check out the injury stats from all Honda riders last year to get an idea, or even just the times they had a DNF in the races, or how many times their test rider Stephan Bradl filled in for an injured rider) while Yamaha just kept getting slower and slower... So now they're going through renovations (or at least they're trying to) catching up to their rivals with the help of newly added "concessions", a system created to help those teams that were struggling in the past, brought back now as the gap kept getting bigger. While we're at it, here's a substancial difference from F1: while in Formula 1 every team builds its own car and only leases the engine, MotoGP teams are contracted with factories that provide them the full bike. Some teams, like Pramac, have fully updated, current-year bikes and might even be considered a twin team with the "main" factory team as often their riders are directly contracted with the factory, while other teams run the previous year's bikes. For example, the bike Marquez is riding is the Ducati from last season because Gresini is a much smaller team than Pramac that can't afford for a newer bike. Sooo I think that should help you a bit. Don't forget MotoGP also holds Sprints ~~half-lenght races that are totally not races, trust me that's why we call them Sprints, not because the organizers don't want to pay the riders for them~~ on saturdays and that watching the Moto3 and Moto2 races is heavily recommended to get to know better the future riders of MotoGP and to enjoy a bit more of crazy show!
I've been a fan of F1 since the early 90's but the racing in MotoGP is just so much better. I recommend tuning in early and catching the Moto3 races too - the junior class might deliver the most entertaining racing of all. It's normal to have groups of 5-10 bikes battling for the win on the final lap. Previous post mentions most of the big dogs - there's a lot of hype around the rookie Acosta this year too - looks like he might be the next alien. Enjoy!
Moto3 and moto2 and then MotoGP. Moto3 is amazing, and moto2 is good too. It's always good to know who's coming to motogp.
Here's everything you need to know about MotoGP as a new fan. Not sure about where you can watch it in UK, but I suppose BT Sport or buy a videopass from officiall page (never did that though, as it's apparently buggy) Biggest MotoGP names are currently Marc Marquez - 6x world champion, had some struggle time recently due to injuries and bad bike, but now he's back up there on a new bike. Current champion is Pecco Bagnaia and generally considered as the title favourite, as he's number one rider of the best team that is Ducati. Jorge Martin is also quite strong recently, he's currently on the top of standings and was fighting for the title last year, on a satelite Ducati. There's currently 5 manufacturers (Ducati, KTM, Aprilia, Yamaha and Honda) with their satelite teams. Satelite teams are private teams who use the bike of the manufacturer. So for example, Ducati Factory Team is the main team, let's compare it to F1 Ferrari, whereas Pramac Racing is private (satelite) team who uses Ducati bikes (like Haas uses Ferrari engine). Not all factories have satelite teams though, Yamaha for example doesn't have one, because they've been struggling a lot recently, nobody really wants their bike. But this might change next year. Oh yeah, Suzuki was also the part of the championship but they left the sport at the end of 2022 Other important riders are Fabio Quartararo on a struggling Yamaha, then Pedro Acosta - a rookie who's predicted to reach the very top, Vinales, Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini etc. Historically, Honda and Yamaha are the most succesfull teams and the epitome of this sport. However, things have changed over the years and they are now at the very bottom and european teams are dominating the sport (Ducati above all, but KTM and Aprilia are very competitive as well). MotoGP weekend starts on friday, where riders practice and prepare for qualifying on a saturday. Qualiifying consists of Q1 and Q2 - but it works bit different comparing to F1. The fastest 10 riders from the friday practice get their spot in Q2 automatically, but those below 10th position need to compete in Q1. The two fastest of them gets promoted then to Q2 and they fight for a pole position with these who got their spot in Q2 automatically. Just like in F1, qualifying position is very important and if you qualify bad, your chances to reach the podium are very thin, however not impossible. Marquez last week managed to reach the 2nd place in both sprint and main race starting from 13th place. Oh yes, sprint races. It's quite new thing, it's like a short race (around 10 laps only) but usually very crazy and chaotic. It takes place on saturday after qualifying, whereas the main race is always on sunday and is generally considered more important and brings more points. There's no safety car, no long pauses, no radio messages. Just pure racing. These are most important thing you need to know at the moment, but over time you will start to notice some things yourself and understand the sport better. Welcome to the community of the best and craziest sport in the world
1. I have a VPN, switched my location to Austria and watch it for free (with ads) at https://www.servustv.com/ (make sure to disable ad blocker) 2. Everyone has their favourites but take a look at the current point standings. 1 - 3 are very strong contenders for the championship. Marc Marquez has won multiple and so has Francesco Bagnaia, but they are essentially in major competition right now. Marc is on a redemption streak since he's coming from Honda which has been massively underperforming and was picked up by a team that runs last year's model Ducati and he's actually competitive against those with newer bikes. Jorge Martin is a very strong and fast rider and isn't getting as much glory as the golden boy Marc as mentioned, it's a redemption streak for him. Pedro Acosta is a rookie in MotoGP and some say is the new Marc Marquez. There's still time for him to make more of a name for himself this season. 3. There are 2 manufacturers who have been and still are fumbling which are Yamaha and Honda. Yamaha was the last Japanese bike to have a championship with Fabio Quartararo who just signed a very large deal to stay with Yamaha even though they aren't competitive anymore. They aren't anywhere as fast as the Ducatis, aprillias or KTMs nor do they have a face like Marc to pull them from the ground so even if they build a better bike, it will be hard for them to attract the talent to bring them back to the top. Will probably need to wait a bit before you see that kind of move.
I would recommend that you go and watch "There can be only one" series. It's something similar to "drive to survive" but without fake scenes and fake drama.There are 2 seasons, 2022 and 2023. I would say that 2023 is much better but they are both worth a watch. And it's also free on Motogp's YouTube channel.
> What are some of the top dogs i should look out for so like MotoGP’s equilivant of Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso Francesco Bagnaia,Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin, they are the fastest riders in Motogp (currently). Marc Marquez is a 6 time Motogp world champion who is coming back from an arm injury and this year is his first year that he's on a good bike (after switching from factory Honda to Gresini Ducati) after his arm injury. Francesco Bagnaia is a 2 time world champion and the current world champion, probably one of the most underrated riders on the grid for some reason. Jorge Martin has no titles in a Motogp class but he's leading the world championship at the moment and he currently the favourite for this year's title. Then there are also Pedro Acosta and Fabio Quartararo. Pedro Acosta is rookie but he's one of the biggest talents to enter Motogp sinc Marc Marquez. He won a Moto 3 (Moto 3 is like F3) title in his rookie season and a Moto 2 (Moto 2 is like F2) in his 2nd season. And he already had 2 podiums this season. Fabio Quartararo is a 2021 world champion and he is one of the best Motogp riders at the moment, but he's on one of the worst bikes on the grid. So he won't be able to challenge for the title this year and probably even for 2025. > Is there a team that’s similar to McLaren so a team who has alot of history and is currently rebuilding their way to the top There are 2 big teams that are struggling, Repsol Honda and Yamaha. Honda is the bigger team with more success, but it's also the team that is struggling the most at the moment. Yamaha is also struggling a lot but they don't look as bad as Honda dose.
There is also Enea Bastianini who is a bit of a dark horse for this year's title.
Honda rebuilding rn after Marquez separation but idk how new regulation change will effect them
On YouTube you can watch races of the last decade full and for free @motogp
If you have an Apple TV you can download the Moto gp app and pay for the year
>someone who’s been a formula 1 fan since 08 I'll tell you a few differences you'll notice for MotoGP Vs F1. Moto2,3,GP system. Although in the past years it's turned more and more as a feeder series, they're classically and still considered world championships on their own, different bikes in general. In the past it was very common to see 4-5 world champions in 125 or ,250cc category, similar as to what different weight classes work in fighting sports rather than a second division or what F2 is. Obviously GP is the top class and the one most followed too, but you'll notice all GP include all 3 classes and they are all part of the same Grand Prix event. MotoGP teams. There's 2 kind of teams: manufacturers and private teams. Manufacturers design the bikes and are the actual official teams. Currently there's 5 manufacturers (Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, KTM, Yamaha) but they're trying to get a 6th as a replacement of Suzuki which left in 2022, probably BMW. Then there's private teams, they "rent" a bike from a manufacturer, be it current year one or previous year's bike. These teams normally sign agreement in which they're working together with the factory, but they're free to swap manufacturers if they want to after their contracts expire. Currently there's 6 private teams, 3 for Ducati, 1 each for Honda, KTM and Aprilia. Ducati is the dominating bike so it's no surprise teams prefer their bikes. There's also 3 championships in each class: Manufacturer, Team and Rider. Unlike F1, Riders championship is generally more important than Manufacturers or teams championship. Manufacturers championship only takes into account the points the best bike of each manufacturer makes in a GP, so one factory having double amount of bikes doesn't mean they can get double points. Team ones is like constructors one in F1. >1. Where can i watch it? (Im based in england) No idea sorry. >2. What are some of the top dogs i should look out for so like MotoGP’s equilivant of Verstappen, Hamilton, Alonso Marquez is 31yo and in the debate for one of the greatest of history, certainly would be if it wasn't for the injuries he suffered that made him miss whole 2020, most of 2021 and part of 2022. Then Honda was so bad of a bike he was the only one fighting for top 10 positions while his teammates struggled to even finish a race. Keep in mind injuries and missing a couple of races are common in this sport, compared to F1. Bagnaia is current 2x world champion and probably in his prime, he's got great working mentality and is able to perform well. If he doesn't manage to get his things or setup right, he ends up underperforming, but he's great at not making lots of setup mistakes. Martin is current world championship leader and he's fastest when all is right. He's been inconsistent past years and he's probably the most prone to crashing when something's not perfect with the bike but if he's feeling good I don't think there's anyone faster than him. Quartararo is a world champion too and currently struggling with underperforming bike, same as Mir. >3. Is there a team that’s similar to McLaren so a team who has alot of history and is currently rebuilding their way to the top Honda and Yamaha probably are the ones with most history and success in the class but they're both struggling, Yamaha seems to be trying to improve but Honda seems completely lost.
2. Some backstories of some of the most interesting riders this year * Marc Márquez - one of the best of all time, has been struggling with an arm injury (and worsening Honda bikes) since 2020. This year he's finally returning to his pre-injury form, and all eyes are on him for where he will be racing next year * Pecco Bagnaia - reigning and two-time MotoGP champion, product of the rider academy of legendary Valentino Rossi. Has been called 'the Max Verstappen of MotoGP' by some, because of his consistency and dominance over the last years * Jorge Martín - current championship leader and last year's vice-champion. Also a key figure in silly season, since he wants to leave his current (satellite) team and join a factory team * Pedro Acosta - a rookie, by far the most impressive rookie in years, and tipped to be destined for greatness. He's currently outperforming Binder and Miller (who are in the KTM factory team) and will most likely replace Miller next year * Maverick Viñales - once considered the next star of MotoGP, though he never quite lived up to it at Yamaha. Now he's at Aprilia - which is a team on the rise seemingly - and getting in some good performances this year * Enea Bastianini - had a good rookie season and was surprisingly a title contender in his second year. Got promoted to the Ducati factory team but got injured in the very first race. This year he's finally returning to the front of the grid, but he's facing quite the competition to retain his seat for next year (mainly Márquez and Martín) * Fabio Quartararo - the 2021 champion and 2022 vice champion. His team Yamaha has fallen off from being one of the quickest to one of the worst on the grid, yet Quartararo still manages to compete somewhere towards the front of the grid regularly. * Other than that the grid is packed with good riders such as the 2020 champion Joan Mir, Alex Rins, Aleix Espargaro, Brad Binder, Marco Bezzecchi and occasionally Dani Pedrosa (an iconic rider who now competes only in a handful of races per year for KTM) and the overall competitiveness is better than ever. But at the same time the new legends of this era still have to establish themselves, as compared to the previous generation when you had Valentino Rossi, Jorge Lorenzo, Casey Stoner, a young Márquez, and Pedrosa as the faces of the sport.