Never watched MotoGP? A beginner's guide for F1 fans, just in time for the title decider
MotoGP explained for F1 fans: how the bikes, the Sprint and the points work, the jargon you'll hear, who's fighting for the 2026 title and how to watch this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.
If you watched the US Grand Prix last weekend, you might have seen something new before FP3: MotoGP bikes at COTA. Dani Pedrosa, Nicolò Bulega, Andrea Dovizioso and Lorenzo Savadori ran a demo, the first time MotoGP has been part of an F1 weekend.
If it made you curious, now is the time. MotoGP can look like a different world: 22 riders on bikes that lean so far their elbows touch the track, a race every Saturday and Sunday, and a title fight this year that’s closer than F1’s.
This guide explains it for someone who already knows F1: what MotoGP is, who’s racing, how a weekend works and the words you’ll hear on TV. At the bottom is everything you need for this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix, the perfect race to start with.
What MotoGP is
MotoGP is the top class of motorcycle racing, the bikes’ version of F1. Since 2025 it has even had the same owner as F1, Liberty Media. More on that below.
- 22 riders, 11 teams, 5 manufacturers: Ducati, Aprilia, KTM, Honda and Yamaha.
- 22 rounds, from March to the end of November.
- The bikes are prototypes, built only for racing. You can’t buy one. They have 1000cc four-cylinder engines and reach more than 360 km/h.
The same weekend also has two junior classes, Moto2 and Moto3. Think of them as F2 and F3. Their races run on Sunday before the main event.
You’ll know a lot of the tracks already. MotoGP races at COTA, Silverstone, the Red Bull Ring, Barcelona, Lusail and Sepang, where F1 raced this year too.
If you want an F1 shortcut for the teams: Ducati has been the dominant force, the way Red Bull and Mercedes were in their best years. Aprilia is the team that’s caught up, a bit like McLaren. KTM has Red Bull money and orange paint, and Honda and Yamaha are the old giants trying to get back to the front, which F1 fans who remember Williams will recognise.
Each manufacturer runs its own factory team, plus satellite teams that race the same make of bike. Satellites can win: Jorge Martín took the 2024 title with Pramac, beating the factory Ducati team.
All 11 MotoGP teams in 2026
| Make | Team | Riders |
|---|---|---|
| Ducati | Ducati Lenovo Team Factory | Marc Márquez, Francesco Bagnaia |
| BK8 Gresini Racing | Álex Márquez, Fermín Aldeguer | |
| Pertamina Enduro VR46 | Fabio Di Giannantonio, Franco Morbidelli | |
| Aprilia | Aprilia Racing Factory | Jorge Martín, Marco Bezzecchi |
| SuperFile Trackhouse | Ai Ogura, Raúl Fernández | |
| KTM | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Factory | Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder |
| Red Bull KTM Tech3 | Enea Bastianini, Maverick Viñales | |
| Honda | Honda HRC Castrol Factory | Joan Mir, Luca Marini |
| Honda LCR | Johann Zarco, Diogo Moreira | |
| Yamaha | Monster Energy Yamaha Factory | Fabio Quartararo, Álex Rins |
| Prima Pramac Yamaha | Jack Miller, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu |
Why F1’s owner bought MotoGP
Liberty Media, the American company that has owned Formula 1 since 2017, bought MotoGP in a deal worth about €4.2 billion (about US$4.5 billion at the time). It was announced in April 2024 and completed in July 2025, once the European Commission had approved it.
- What it bought: a controlling stake in Dorna Sports, the Spanish company that has run MotoGP since 1992. Dorna’s managers kept the rest, and Carmelo Ezpeleta, in charge since 1998, still runs the series.
- Why: under Liberty, F1 grew into a global hit, with Drive to Survive, three races in the US and a much younger audience. MotoGP is huge in Spain, Italy and Southeast Asia, but far less known elsewhere, and Liberty wants to repeat the trick.
- What’s changed so far: the COTA demo is the most visible sign. Dorna also asked broadcasters to call Márquez a seven-time champion, counting only his MotoGP titles, which caused a row among fans.
So if MotoGP keeps turning up at F1 races, this is why.
Meet the riders
This year’s grid has world champions, a Moto2 title winner and a three-time World Superbike champion. Open the list to put a face to every name, in championship order.
All 22 MotoGP riders in 2026
In championship order. Rider photos: MotoGP.com
F1 and MotoGP, side by side
| Formula 1 | MotoGP | |
|---|---|---|
| Teams | 11 | 11 |
| Grid | 22 cars | 22 bikes |
| Sprint races | 6 weekends a year | Every weekend |
| Points | Top 10 score | Top 15 score |
| Pit stops | Every race | None, unless it rains |
| Tyres | Pirelli | Michelin (Pirelli from 2027) |
| Qualifying | Q1, Q2, Q3 | Q1, Q2 |
| Customer teams | Engine and some parts | The whole bike |
| Race length | About 90 minutes | About 40 minutes |
The fastest a MotoGP bike has ever gone is 368.6 km/h, by Jorge Martín’s Aprilia at Mugello this year. That’s in the same range as an F1 car on the Monza straight, on something that weighs about a fifth as much.
From 2027, Pirelli takes over MotoGP’s tyres too, so F1’s tyre supplier will be making rubber for both series.
Luca Marini leads riders down the pit lane at the 2026 Indonesian Grand Prix. Photo: Michelin
How a race weekend works
Friday has two sessions. The second one, simply called Practice, matters most: the top 10 riders go straight into the final part of qualifying. Everyone else has to fight through Q1 first.
Saturday is qualifying, in two parts, Q1 and Q2. The fastest two from Q1 join the top 10 in Q2, which decides the first four rows of the grid. In the afternoon comes the Sprint, a race about half the length of Sunday’s. Unlike F1, there’s a Sprint at every round, and there’s no separate Sprint qualifying: Saturday morning sets the grid for both races.
Sunday is the Grand Prix, usually 40 to 45 minutes of racing with no stops.
Points:
- Grand Prix: 25, 20, 16, 13, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for the top 15.
- Sprint: 12, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for the top nine.
The Grand Prix pays 25 for a win, just like F1, but points go all the way down to 15th. A perfect weekend is worth 37 points.
Bikes in the pit lane as fans look on at the 2026 British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Photo: Michelin
The jargon you’ll hear
- Flag to flag: if it starts raining during a race, riders dive into the pits and jump onto a second bike set up for the wet. Each rider has two bikes for this. Imagine an F1 driver swapping cars instead of tyres.
- Long lap penalty: instead of a time penalty, the rider has to ride through a longer loop marked out at one corner, losing a couple of seconds. Think of it as a drive-through penalty that happens on the track. You’ll see it on screen as it happens.
- Tyre pressure rule: the front tyre has to stay above a minimum pressure for a set share of the race. Riders who don’t get a time penalty after the flag. At Phillip Island, Ai Ogura lost sixth place in the Sprint this way.
- Factory and satellite teams: each manufacturer runs its own factory team plus customer teams, like Gresini and VR46 with Ducati or Trackhouse with Aprilia. It’s like Haas running Ferrari parts, except satellite teams get the whole bike, and they can and do win.
- Holeshot device: a system that lowers the bike at the start to stop it wheelieing. It’s banned from 2027.
Fans watch from a balcony at the 2026 Grand Prix of the Americas at COTA. Photo: Michelin
The 2026 title fight
F1’s title is all but settled, with Kimi Antonelli 123 points clear. MotoGP’s is the opposite: one of the closest seasons in years, and the lead has changed hands again and again.
Bezzecchi started it. Marco Bezzecchi won the first three Grands Prix for Aprilia, in Thailand, Brazil and Austin. Then the wins started spreading around: by the summer break, the top five riders were covered by just 24 points, with Jorge Martín leading.
Márquez took over. Since June, Marc Márquez has won six Grands Prix, more than anyone else this season, including a Sprint and Grand Prix double in Japan. He also won the Sprint at each of the last three rounds.
Phillip Island swung it. Martín arrived in Australia two points ahead. In the Sprint, he and Márquez were fighting for the win when Martín crashed and fractured his right forearm, just above the wrist. Márquez won, and took the lead. Sunday’s race was then cancelled because the poor visibility meant the medical helicopter couldn’t fly, so no more points were given out.
| Pos | Rider | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc Márquez | Ducati Lenovo | 365 |
| 2 | Jorge Martín | Aprilia Racing | 355 |
| 3 | Marco Bezzecchi | Aprilia Racing | 315 |
| 4 | Pedro Acosta | Red Bull KTM | 263 |
| 5 | Ai Ogura | Trackhouse Aprilia | 259 |
Full championship standings
| Pos | Rider | Team | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marc Márquez | Ducati Lenovo | 365 |
| 2 | Jorge Martín | Aprilia Racing | 355 |
| 3 | Marco Bezzecchi | Aprilia Racing | 315 |
| 4 | Pedro Acosta | Red Bull KTM | 263 |
| 5 | Ai Ogura | Trackhouse Aprilia | 259 |
| 6 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | VR46 Ducati | 252 |
| 7 | Raúl Fernández | Trackhouse Aprilia | 236 |
| 8 | Álex Márquez | Gresini Ducati | 181 |
| 9 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo | 166 |
| 10 | Fermín Aldeguer | Gresini Ducati | 125 |
| 11 | Enea Bastianini | KTM Tech3 | 122 |
| 12 | Luca Marini | Honda HRC | 108 |
| 13 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM | 108 |
| 14 | Diogo Moreira | LCR Honda | 76 |
| 15 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha | 74 |
| 16 | Franco Morbidelli | VR46 Ducati | 59 |
| 17 | Johann Zarco | LCR Honda | 51 |
| 18 | Joan Mir | Honda HRC | 33 |
| 19 | Jack Miller | Pramac Yamaha | 31 |
| 20 | Álex Rins | Yamaha | 25 |
| 21 | Toprak Razgatlıoğlu | Pramac Yamaha | 18 |
| 22 | Maverick Viñales | KTM Tech3 | 12 |
| 23 | Iker Lecuona | Gresini Ducati | 10 |
| 24 | Augusto Fernández | Yamaha | 6 |
| 25 | Pol Espargaró | KTM Tech3 | 5 |
| 26 | Somkiat Chantra | Honda HRC | 3 |
| 27 | Takaaki Nakagami | Honda HRC | 3 |
Standings after the Australian round. Lecuona, Augusto Fernández, Espargaró, Chantra and Nakagami scored their points as stand-ins for injured riders.
The two favourites
Marc Márquez at Phillip Island (left) and Jorge Martín on the grid in Indonesia. Photos: Michelin
Márquez is the reigning champion. His 2025 title was his seventh in MotoGP and his ninth across all classes, equalling Valentino Rossi. At 33, he’s chasing a tenth, which would put him ahead of Rossi on his own.
Martín was champion in 2024, with the Pramac Ducati team. He moved to Aprilia for 2025 and spent most of that year injured, so this season is his comeback. Now, with the title within reach, he’s racing his own broken arm as well as Márquez.
Why this season matters
2026 is the last year of the current bikes. From 2027 the engines drop from 1000cc to 850cc, ride-height devices are banned and Pirelli replaces Michelin as the tyre supplier. If you’ve ever heard people say MotoGP bikes are the most extreme in the sport, this is your last chance to see them like this.
Two rookies are worth watching too: Diogo Moreira, the 2025 Moto2 champion, and Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, a three-time World Superbike champion.
Next race: the Malaysian Grand Prix
MotoGP’s next stop is Sepang, from 30 October to 1 November, and it’s a big one for the title.
Kuala Lumpur’s Petronas Towers, about an hour’s drive from Sepang. Photo: Esmonde Yong/Unsplash
What to know
- The track: the Sepang International Circuit is 5.5 km long, with 15 corners and two long straights. It’s next to Kuala Lumpur’s main airport and has hosted MotoGP since it opened in 1999.
- The weather: it’s hot and humid, and afternoon thunderstorms are common. If one arrives mid-race, watch for a flag-to-flag finish.
- The history: the Malaysian Grand Prix has been on the calendar since 1991, and Sepang was the scene of the famous 2015 clash between Valentino Rossi and Marc Márquez.
- Martín’s fitness: the title fight might be decided by a medical test. Martín needs to pass a fitness check on Thursday before he can ride. Aprilia say he’ll try, but he says it’s “impossible to predict”.
- Rider changes: Joan Mir is back for Honda after missing four races, and Iker Lecuona replaces the injured Fermín Aldeguer at Gresini.
What can happen in the title fight
- It can’t be decided at Sepang. After Malaysia, 111 points are still left, and even Márquez’s best case leaves him 47 ahead.
- Martín can retake the lead on Saturday only by winning the Sprint with Márquez 10th or lower. On Sunday, a Martín win puts him back in front if Márquez finishes fourth or lower.
- The earliest it can end is the next round after Sepang, and only if Martín misses both races while Márquez scores almost everything.
- Seven riders are still mathematically in it: Márquez, Martín, Bezzecchi, Acosta, Ogura, Di Giannantonio and Raúl Fernández. Realistically, it’s Márquez against Martín, with Bezzecchi waiting if both slip up.
How to watch
| Session | Sepang (local) | GMT |
|---|---|---|
| Sprint, Saturday | 3pm | 7am |
| Grand Prix, Sunday | 3pm | 7am |
Check the official timetable before the weekend, as session times can change.
Every session streams live on MotoGP’s own VideoPass at motogp.com, and TV coverage depends on where you live.
After Sepang
- Qatar (Lusail): 6 to 8 November, moved from April
- Portugal (Portimão): 20 to 22 November
- Valencia: 27 to 29 November, the final round
A note on Qatar: the race is in doubt because of the conflict in the Middle East. Reports say MotoGP could cancel it, possibly with a second race at Sepang the weekend after the Malaysian Grand Prix instead. Nothing was confirmed when we published, and we’ll update this when it is.
Start with the Sprint on Saturday. It’s short, it’s chaotic, and you’ll know within ten minutes whether you’re hooked.
