Pedro Acosta Rejects the 2027 MotoGP Format: “We’re Not Race Cars”

Pedro Acosta is openly speaking out against the new MotoGP weekend format for 2027. The Red Bull Ring winner, who will leave KTM next year to join Marc Marquez at Ducati, fears greater stress for riders, an increased risk of injury and the loss of Sunday warm-up. The Spaniard’s concern is that the new formula could even shorten riders’ careers.

Since the introduction of the Sprint races in 2023, a single qualifying session has always determined the grid for both races. From 2027, however, there will be a separate qualifying session for the Sprint on Friday, at the expense of time devoted to practice. Saturday will be reserved for qualifying for the Grand Prix: all riders will take part in Q1, with the 12 fastest advancing to Q2. On our website, we had already wondered whether this was really necessary in MotoGP revolution reaches the format too: double qualifying in F1 style. But was it necessary?

Speaking on Thursday in Mandalika, Acosta admitted that the riders’ opinions count for little: “We have no choice, so it doesn’t really matter what we think. But it will be a really tough year, because you know how much stress a rider experiences during a MotoGP weekend, since many times the weekend already begins on Wednesday with promotional events and all these things.”

For the KTM rider, the central issue is the number of sessions in which they already have to risk everything, with a Sprint taking place at all 22 events: “We already have many sessions in which we have to risk everything, such as practice, qualifying, the Sprint and the race—four already. I understand this format if we only had half as many Sprints. But the problem is that we already have so many races. If you look at the list of riders, there aren’t many who go through the whole season without an injury”.

From 2027, the ten-minute Sunday warm-up will also disappear, replaced by a ten-minute window before the race to complete more sighting laps. A solution that does not convince the Spaniard: “Without a warm-up, I don’t know if it’s the smartest thing if someone crashes on Saturday, to check that the whole bike is working properly and as it should.”

As Acosta explains, during sighting laps riders do not complete a full lap and cannot find their rhythm: “In the warm-up, okay, you have the same 10 minutes, but you find your pace, find your rhythm, everything reaches the right temperature. The bike is prepared for the race. Ten minutes beforehand, if you go to the grid and something isn’t working, your Sunday is already over”.

Marquez’s future teammate is calling for the physical consequences of crashes to be taken into account before adding more high-pressure sessions. And this is where his strongest statement comes. “We already take a lot of risks. We are not in a single-seater. When we crash, even if it is a small crash, it is our body that hits the ground, not the cockpit. That’s why I think we should reflect on it,” he told Crash.net. His position adds to the debate unfolding in the Indonesian paddock, where Luca Marini, by contrast, welcomed the new Sprint qualifying format, while admitting that it will make weekends more stressful. The track will now have its say: 2027 will reveal who was right.

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