MotoGP versus Covid

Covid hasn’t gone away, so it will affect the 2021 MotoGP season just like it hit last year’s championship. Masked mechanics and empty grandstands on our TV screens will continue to remind us that the world is a very different place.

The pandemic causes special problems for any business or sport that needs to travel and cross borders. Thus MotoGP rights-holders Dorna are firefighting 24/7, because the Covid situation changes constantly, so they can arrange a protocol to go racing in one region and then that region changes its travel restrictions, so they have to start again. Dorna did a great job of salvaging a 14-race MotoGP championship last year, using super-strict protocols requiring regular Covid tests and keeping the paddock in a bubble separate from the locals, with riders and staff banned from favourite bars, restaurants and so on. There were hopes that the situation would’ve improved by now, but more virulent strains of the virus have locked down parts of the world just as they were hoping to open up. Last year’s season-opening Qatar MotoGP race was cancelled because many riders and team staff had returned to Europe after testing and weren’t allowed back into the country for the race. Incredibly, many teams and riders went home after completing 2021 testing. And with many Italians in the paddock and parts of Italy going back into lockdown, will they be allowed back into Qatar for this year’s race? The fact that much of the paddock had their first Covid vaccination during testing is great news, because it should protect riders and staff, but the paddock bubble will remain. Dorna hope the situation will improve with vaccine rollouts, so that MotoGP can race outside Europe for the first time since 2019. But recent events have told us that nothing is certain…