Bagnaia reveals: “Riders were not consulted” about the cancellation of the Australian GP

Nobody asked the MotoGP riders what they thought. Francesco Bagnaia admits it bluntly: the decision to cancel the Australian Grand Prix, the last one at Phillip Island, was made by race direction without consulting those on the grid. And although the Ducati rider accepts the decision, he makes it clear that he would have been happy to take to the track.

A long, bitter day, with hours spent waiting in the rain and no positive outcome, as we reported in our article MotoGP bids farewell to Phillip Island without racing: riders wave goodbye to fans in a Miller show. In particularly difficult conditions, you might expect the riders to be consulted, but this time the issue was not the track surface.

Poor visibility, which prevented the medical helicopters from taking off, brought everything to a halt—not the track conditions. For that reason, Bagnaia believes the riders have no choice but to accept race direction’s decision. Asked by TNT Sports whether the riders had been given a say, the Ducati Lenovo Team rider replied with a firm “No,” adding: “But in situations like this, we have to respect race direction’s decisions.”

Asked whether he would have preferred to race, his answer was just as clear: “Yes, absolutely. It’s clear that conditions were a little tricky and very cold, but I think we’ve raced in worse conditions than these.” Safety is non-negotiable, but it is still fair to ask why the restrictions were not explained directly to the riders before the cancellation was made official.

That differs from Davide Tardozzi’s view; he defended the decision to cancel the race, even though the track conditions were acceptable.

For Bagnaia, the main disappointment was missing the chance to say goodbye to a special circuit: “It’s a shame to have a Sunday like this, stuck in the pits at a track like this for the last time. I just hope that we can come back and enjoy ourselves again in the future because, as we saw yesterday, the races at this circuit are incredible, with great battles. So it’s a shame, but I really hope we can return in the future.”

Phillip Island, which had hosted MotoGP since 1989, will now leave the calendar. From next season, the Australian Grand Prix will be held in Adelaide, where Agius will also make his premier-class debut on home soil.

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