Finally, a breath of fresh air—how spectacular city races will be!

MotoGP is leaving Phillip Island and from 2027 will run the Australian GP on a circuit set up within the city of Adelaide, which is as you can see in the opening photo. What's so strange about that?

It's a choice perfectly in line with the goals of the new MotoGP management. It's unclear why it has sparked so much outrage: new things are exciting and also necessary. Tastes, trends, passions change: sport simply follows the course of the radical transformation of our lives.

Let’s take for granted that in Adelaide a model circuit will be set up, with wide runoff areas and every safety device that has been essential for years. The faction of nostalgics pulled out images of road races from the past. In Imatra, Finland, they raced on suburban boulevards: circling roundabouts, the riders crossed the level crossing after hurtling down the straight at 300 km/h: trees on one side, the lake on the other. Or Brno, twelve kilometers between guard rails and villages, blasting through sweeping curves at astonishing speeds, among houses. Perhaps the most terrifying was Opatija, a roller coaster overlooking the Adriatic Sea, between rocks and drop-offs. Until 1976 the 500 raced at the Tourist Trophy and that says it all. Fascinating and tragic stories, but what do they have to do with today? Nothing.

Liberty Media revitalized F1 and will do the same with MotoGP, completely changing identity, audience, and marketing positioning. The venue change for the Australian GP is symbolic, because they will move to downtown Adelaide, abandoning Phillip Island, a milestone of our tradition, as it’s one of the fastest and most beautiful circuits ever built. But those who fiercely oppose the decision have probably never been there. Phillip Island is exactly the circuit least suited to the new course. Never mind the location, on an island that’s a nature reserve 150 kilometers from downtown Melbourne. The problem is there are no facilities. The pit boxes are tiny and bare, above them a miniature press room and a few small lounges. There are no hospitality suites to sell to sponsors’ guests. And they can't build them, because the entire island is subject to extremely strict zoning regulations. That’s why they won’t go there anymore.

Let’s be clear: Liberty Media cares almost zero about the “hardcore” of fans, the ones who gather on social media to debate the finer points. The Americans will bring in big mainstream sponsors, as happened in Formula 1, where the largest investors have little or nothing to do with automotive. And they will primarily target a new audience, especially young people. Ninety-nine percent of the 400,000 spectators in Miami don’t know F1’s past and aren’t even interested in the technical side. They go, paying very expensive tickets, because the event is glamorous—there’s buzz, allure. Today’s kids who go to concerts don’t know who Luigi Tenco was; they follow contemporary fashions and trends. Motorsport is becoming pop too. Deal with it.

Something can go wrong, of course, as in any revolution. But we must not forget a decisive factor: money. Liberty Media has the vision, the capabilities, and the budget to rewrite our sport’s identity from scratch. They won’t do as Dorna did, which arrived in 1992 and, over all these years, brought changes but always trying to please both sides. The Americans in just a few years rewrote Formula 1’s identity; in motorcycling they will have an even easier time.