MotoGP riders rebel over salaries: "Some run almost for free"

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Suddenly a protest.

Suddenly, union union.

Suddenly, the revolution.

In an extremely individual sport such as MotoGP, where each rider has his own working group and there is no association that brings them together, in recent weeks a claim has united them all against the teams and against the organization of the World Championship.

The reason: salaries.

Or rather the drastic drop in wages.

It is time to renew contracts and, as several agents admit in Montmeló in conversation with EL MUNDO, the offers on the table are much lower than those received two years ago, in the last period of the 'market'.

What is happening?

"We are all aware of the situation: we have had a pandemic, the transport crisis has made travel much more expensive, the World Championship has more races than ever... but it seems that the drivers have to be the only ones affected. The team leaders get paid the same, the factories invest the same, the motorhomes are equally enormous... there is a crisis, but only for the pilots", acknowledges the representative of one of the top 10 classified for the World Cup, one of the many who still have their future open.

As he reveals, "some riders are being offered less than what they were paid a few years ago in Moto2", and the figures are revealing.

The numbers

In MotoGP the privileged are the riders of the factory teams, who still earn almost all more than one million euros, with

at the top of the list with his historic contract stipulated over 15 million per year.

Below them are the best pilots of satellite teams, who are still around half a million per season and far below, those who close the grid, with salaries that can now drop to 80,000 euros a year.

That group, increasingly numerous, has been the most affected, but there have been cuts at all scales.

"The fact is that there is a surplus of very good drivers. In many races there are champions fighting to get into the points, such as

or

. Months ago the offers were already low, but everything multiplied when Suzuki announced that he was leaving. Other great drivers like

and

were freed and the market has already collapsed. That's why what [Marc] Márquez said," says another agent, this one from a driver from the tail from the grid, one of those who fears staying out of the World Championship, alluding to the words of the six-time MotoGP champion last week at Mugello.

"Many riders are racing on too low a salary. It's not normal as we run bikes at 350 km/h, twenty races a year. I think you would have to work on a minimum base salary. How? That's not my job anymore. , it's not up to me to think about that anymore," he commented and alerted the directors of the groups and Dorna, the organizing company.

Because the pilots had denounced this trend in the Safety Commission, the meeting that all parties hold on Thursdays.

And because the protagonists of MotoGP had never carried out a similar union action.

The solutions

Years ago there was already talk of the possible creation of a drivers' union like the one that Formula 1 drivers, tennis players or soccer and basketball players have, but the lack of interest of the person who was to lead the initiative, Valentino Rossi, then the only reference of the championship, stopped the movement.

Now, with Márquez more involved, with his brother Álex as one of those affected, that union in search of a change seems possible.

"As far as I know, several proposals have been made. There is the issue of the minimum salary, but also the possibility of starting to distribute prizes among the drivers according to their results. It would also be fair, surely. You have to take into account that 80,000 or 100,000 euros can seem like a good salary, but the riders need to buy motorcycles to train, rent circuits, hire agents, physical trainers or mechanics for their training... the best in MotoGP can spend a million a year to prepare and among the rest, counting the expenses, some run almost free," adds a third MotoGP representative, also outraged by the situation.

Suddenly a protest.

Suddenly, union union.

Suddenly, the revolution.

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