Formula 1 and MotoGP: Why Has Italy Won Only on Two Wheels for Years?

You say MotoGP and you say Italy. Sure, in cohabitation with the Spanish, but the tricolour has always flown imperiously. No point listing the greats of history—there are too many. In Formula 1, however, it took Andrea Kimi Antonelli to dust off our flag from the drawer of oblivion. A paradox if you consider that, despite foreign shopping in our own backyard, we remain the homeland of motors, whether cars or bikes.

The answer lies in a mix of economic, structural, and cultural factors that have made the four-wheel path much steeper than the two-wheel one. Leveling it has taken effort and investment. And now the rewards are arriving, albeit with a clear delay.

It’s well known: racing in cars costs much more than racing on bikes. A season in Formula 2 can cost about four times as much as a season in Moto2. Historically, companies have found it easier to sponsor a young motorcyclist than an aspiring car driver. But isn’t that true for everyone? It’s not just about Italians! True: the economic problem is merely the surface manifestation of a structural limitation of the system, which, if addressed differently, could have been prevented.

Italy has its extraordinary Motor Valley. Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini—the very best is there. Yet most Formula 1 team headquarters (8 out of 11) are not located in Italy. In fact, they’re concentrated in one place: a district of Great Britain, between Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire. In practice, F1’s technical heart and much of the development pathway leading to it have long been Anglocentric. Anyone aspiring to Formula 1 had to pass through there, even if born across the Channel.

In this context, Italy long lacked an autonomous and structured driver development system. Italian talents had to catch opportunities within foreign academies. Among the main ones, the Red Bull Junior Team (Milton Keynes), the Mercedes Junior Team (Brackley/Brixworth), the Alpine Academy (Enstone). Their location? In the United Kingdom, unsurprisingly.

Only recently, with the focus on homegrown talent by the Ferrari Driver Academy and the technical and financial support of ACI Sport, have the first concrete answers arrived to stitch up the gap. The Italian talent pool is finally starting to produce names of international significance again. Antonelli is “only” the crown jewel.

Sponsor factor In Italy, despite producing the best kart chassis (OTK, CRG, IPK), the sporting management of young talents has remained fragmented, tied to small local sponsors. In the United Kingdom, by contrast, the Motorsport UK program is marked by an organic approach, which identifies and supports talent (including financially) from as young as 8 years old. Improvisation versus organization. Individual initiatives versus centralization. A phenomenon that, over time, has also ended up reflecting on MotoGP. In the decade 2010‑2020, with Valentino Rossi already in the final phase of his career, the only one consistently keeping the tricolour high was Dovizioso, amid an isolated peak from Iannone and a couple from Petrucci. Whereas in the previous decade, Italians often took turns (Valentino permitting) on the top step of the podium.

VR46 had to step in directly, with its Academy, to prevent the gap between his generation and the next from widening further. Yet again, a solution driven by an individual, called upon to make up for the shortcomings of a system that doesn’t do the same. Fortunately, in this case, the individual, through weight and vision, is worth more than a system.

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