10 things you need to know about MotoGP 2021

The 2021 MotoGP World Championship has big shoes to fill. Despite a pandemic greatly affecting the 2020 season, it still turned out to be one of the most exciting and drama-filled championships in recent memory.

Will the teams bring the same level of competitiveness in 2021? If pre-season testing is anything to go by, then we have no doubts. Here is everything you need to know ahead of MotoGP 2021.

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The 2021 season is looking to pick up where the close and unpredictable 2020 season left off, with four manufacturers separated by less than three-tenths of a second.

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) stayed true to his one-lap form and posted the fastest lap of the test towards the end of the second day. His 1m53.940s lap was just 0.560s slower than the time set by Marc Marquez at the same test ahead of the Spaniard’s 2019 title-winning campaign.

Aussie Jack Miller (Ducati Team) was next, just 0.077s down on the Frenchman and ahead of Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Gresini) who topped the opening day’s timesheets and backed it up with third place overall at the end of the second. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas SRT) made it two Yamahas in the top four with a best lap of 1m54.153s, while Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda) – who’s still standing in for the injured Marc Marquez – put the Honda in fifth, just 0.270s slower than Quartararo’s best time. Suzuki, who is expected to remain hugely competitive this season, finished eighth and 10th respectively with reigning champ Joan Mir and teammate Alex Rins.

In his first outing in full-factory colours, Aussie MotoGP rider Jack Miller finished the two day test second quickest with a 1m54.017s and less than sixth tenths off the all-time lap record at the Losail Circuit.

With development on engines frozen for the 2021 season, the Ducati remained king of the speed trap and Miller was quickest through the first sector over Aleix Espargaro on a new-look Aprilia RS-GP down the long start-finish straight.

Miller said he was “satisfied” with the work achieved after the first test, where he was testing a visibly different aerodynamics package on his factory Ducati, and pitlane commentator Simon Crafar revealed the factory squad will be testing a new chassis at the three-day test later this week.

“Everyone’s already so close and we’ve got another three days,” Miller said in his debrief. “So its going to be interesting come the race, the times will be so close.”

The Qatar circuit has traditionally been a circuit where the Ducati has performed extremely well, so until we get to Portugal in April, we won’t get a clear indication of where the factory Ducati squad is for 2021, but it’s important Miller can capitalise on the advantages in the opening two races.

The most anticipated new signing of the 2021 season looks to be paying off with Pol Espargaro unable to wipe the smile off his face after his first taste of the Honda RC213V.

He ended the two days 12th quickest from the 29 team and test riders present at the test, just 0.733s down on Quartararo, but his fastest lap came on his 25th of 62 laps, suggesting the number 44 rider didn’t try for a late time attack.

He described the switch from KTM to Honda as “a big change” and said he needs to learn “a little bit more where the limits are” … but “we are ready to make it.”

Early indications suggest the Honda is an easier bike to handle in 2021. Previously, when Marc Marquez seemed to be the only man who could tame the notoriously physical RC213V, both Espargaro and Bradl were loitering near the top of the timesheet for a good part of the second day, indicating there’s a more rider friendly package on offer.

LCR Honda rider Alex Marquez suffered three crashes in two days, however, including a big one at the final corner which left him with cuts on his face, while teammate Taka Nakagami takes over Cal Crutchlow’s testing role and was sporting a new aero package during the test. Taka described the next three-day testing regime as “massive” and rattled off a list of things on his list which included both a new chassis and swingarm.

After cold weather thwarted Yamaha’s testing plans in Japan, the factory lobbed in Qatar with three test riders, its four team riders and a truck full of parts to test. Quartararo and Morbidelli were the standouts, with Maverick Vinales (Monster Yamaha) in seventh overall ahead of new Petronas SRT signing Valentino Rossi in 20th and 1.7s off the pace.

Speaking of his move to an independent team for the first time since 2001, Rossi said: “You have a bit less people around the bike, a bit less Japanese engineers, but in the end it’s not a big difference. What I like is the atmosphere is more relaxed, you have a little bit less pressure, but I’m happy – it’s good.”

Switching to the factory squad isn’t the only change to Quartararo’s 2021 season with the 21-year-old confirming he’s employed a sports psychiatrist to try and improve his performance off the track and to keep him calmer and more effective inside the garage.

Newly married Vinales (and who is expecting a baby girl) had good race pace during the test and said his main focus is still trying to find more rear grip, a problem which plagued the factory team during 2020.

Aleix Espargaro was consistently quick across both days of the test, a bitter-sweet result as the team mourns the death of its manager Fausto Gresini.

Sporting a radically different aerodynamics package, Espargaro said the new downforce makes the bike “very very heavy” and hopes he and the team can find something that can help him ride “a little bit more relaxed”, but is overall really pleased with the improvements of the bike not just in its one-lap pace, but also over longer race-simulation runs.

It’s important to note that Aprilia did test at Jerez in the lead-up to the Qatar test, so they team is a couple of days ahead of the rest in terms of seat time and data collection.

In terms of holeshot devices, Suzuki and Yamaha are the only two manufacturers who remain with a single-end device. Every other brand now has a manually actuated squatting device at both ends, dropping the overall centre of gravity for the race start. And judging by the crowd of mechanics and engineers who flocked to pit wall to witness the practice starts on the start-finish straight at the end of the session, how well a rider gets off the line will play a really important role in race results this season.

Elsewhere, Honda bought four different chassis to the first test, three of them previously seen before. It’s a similar story with Yamaha – all three factory-supported riders (Vinales, Quartararo and Rossi) all had a bike set-up with a new-for-2021 chassis for back-to-back testing, while Franco Morbidelli was battling on with the current version. When speaking of the new chassis, Quartararo said the feeling was “really similar”.

The reigning Moto2 world champion Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama Ducati) was the fastest of all three rookies ending his three-day test (rookies and test riders had a one-day shakedown test ahead of the event) in 16th overall with a 1m55.486s lap. Avintia teammate Luca Marini (VR46) was 20th and 0.12s slower with a 1m55.605s, while Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin was very close behind in 21st with his best lap of 1m55.632s posted on his 29th of 36 laps.

Oozing the confidence of a newly crowned world champ, Suzuki Ecstar’s Joan Mir worked methodically throughout the test, with his best lap coming on his last and 45th lap of the day. His 1m54.515s putting the reigning world champ in eighth overall and just over half a second off Quartararo’s pace setter.

He did, however, reveal in his post-test debrief that he didn’t try for a time attack, instead just focussed on re-familiarising himself with the bike and working out which direction the team needs to focus their energies towards for the three-day test later this week.

Interestingly, Suzuki had a 2022-spec engine at the test and while Alex Rins did let slip that the main difference is improved top speed, he quickly added “and that’s all I can say.”

The 2021 pre-season test at Qatar is the first time KTM hasn’t lobbed with a mile-high pile of parts to test since the Austrian factory entered the championship in 2017. Aside from a narrower front fairing, there are no radical changes thus far although it’s probably not surprising given the factory finished just 21 points behind Ducati in the 2020 Constructor’s championship. Factory teammates Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira finished 24th and 11th respectively, while Tech3’s Iker Lecuona and Danilo Petrucci ended the test 23rd and 21st. Binder crashed twice at the end of the second day as he pushed for a time attack.

Not only will the riders be firmly back in their MotoGP groove, the track will be cleaner, there’ll be more parts on show and riders will be putting far more emphasis on where they finish on the time sheets. It kicks off this Wednesday in Qatar.