A cost-cutting proposal that would leave MotoGP riders with a single bike on practice days has run into open resistance from the grid, with riders and team bosses warning it would gut the championship's most dramatic moments to save what one paddock figure dismissed as the wage of a single mechanic.
Under the plan put forward by the manufacturers' association, the MSMA, riders would have only one machine available across Friday and Saturday practice from 2027. A second bike would remain in the garage but could only be wheeled out and prepared after sign-off from IRTA technical inspectors, a deliberately slow process. Two bikes would still be available for Saturday's sprint and Sunday's grand prix. The package also includes shorter practice sessions, Formula 1-style limits on team working hours, and rules restricting which mechanics may touch the bike. The measures still need approval from the Grand Prix Commission, and manufacturers moved closer to agreement at the Hungarian round, with more talks to come.
The loudest objection is a sporting one. As things stand, a rider who crashes in practice or qualifying can sprint back to the box, jump on his second bike and salvage his session. Take the spare away and a single fall can wreck a weekend.
"It's a really bad idea. I understand that the championship and the brands want to make the costs go down," said Red Bull KTM's Pedro Acosta. "If you crash in warm-up, you will not race." Acosta also questioned whether the saving is even real: "There's no way that three guys in the box rebuild the bike from zero in three hours."
Honda's Luca Marini made the show argument directly. "It's worse for the show, because one of the best things is to see a rider crash in qualifying, run and jump on the other bike," he said. Marini also doubted the economics, arguing teams would simply keep a built-up bike out of sight: "If you show only one bike in front of the garage, then you already have another bike behind the garage ready."
The flag-to-flag question — how riders swap to a second machine on slick or wet tyres when the weather turns mid-race — drew similar concern. "I think it's bad. I mean, how do you do a flag-to-flag race?" asked Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo.
Tech3 boss Guenther Steiner was the bluntest. "Maybe I'm too dumb to understand it, but I don't think what the saving is by having two or one bike," he said. "I personally think there is no saving. I was told there is a small saving. One mechanic a year." For Steiner, the trade-off makes no sense: "We steal from the show, for the spectators, and who is the most important part of any sport? The common sense is the fans like two bikes, Dorna likes two bikes, the riders like two bikes." His verdict on the proposal: "I don't get it."
Aprilia's Jorge Martin was resigned rather than combative. "I'd like to have two bikes, honestly. But as I always say, we cannot control what they will decide," he said.
Not everyone is opposed. Honda's Joan Mir, who came up through the junior classes on single machines, sees little drama in it. "If everyone has one, it's fine," Mir said. "In Moto2 and in Moto3, I had one bike and it's not a problem."
That split — a near-unanimous front against the rule, with a handful prepared to live with it — leaves the Grand Prix Commission to weigh modest savings against the spectacle that makes MotoGP weekends unpredictable. A decision is expected before the 2027 regulations are locked in.
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*Originally published on [Motorsports Global](https://motorsports.global/article/motogp-riders-revolt-against-2027-single-bike-plan). Visit for full coverage.*