Need to know: 2023 MotoGP World Championship

If you need any proof the factories have been hard at work during the off-season, no less than nine riders lapped quicker than Portimao’s all-time lap record during the recent two-day test at the Portuguese circuit.

Pecco Bagnaia was the quickest, banging in a 1m37.968s lap – 0.571sec under the previous record – and the only rider to post a sub-1m38s time. Of the remaining eight riders under the 2022 record, there were six Ducatis (Johann Zarco, Luca Marini, Marco Bezzechi, Enea Bastianini, Alex Marquez and Jorge Martin) as well as Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha and Brad Binder’s Red Bull KTM. And only one second separated Bagnaia and Pol Espargaro (GasGas), even though the latter was down in 18th place.

Despite finishing 14th and over eight tenths of a second off Bagnaia’s time, the eight-time world champ is very likely to be in the fight for the podium very early on in the season. The combined times from Portimao aren’t all that telling, given all of the Spaniard’s timed runs were done on a used rear tyre, meaning he didn’t push for a fast time which would have definitely pushed him up the time sheets.

But the most telling was his sprint-race simulation, which was surprisingly close to the leading riders. While it’s clear Honda still has a lot of work to do to match the likes of the Ducatis and the Aprilias, the talent of Marc Marquez will – as it has done during the last handful of seasons – override some of the RC213V’s misgivings.

Switching from what’s widely regarded as the best bike on the grid to the youngest project in the paddock is a very tough ask for the Aussie. In the combined times from the two-day test, Jack finished 17th at Portimao and 0.941sec off Bagnaia. But if you look at his best time in terms of him being less than four tenths off last year’s all-time lap record, then things aren’t looking too bad.

All of the KTM riders are struggling with rear grip, but each day he’s spent on the bike, he’s found an extra second per lap. Add the fact that he’s got a familiar crew chief alongside him who knows him and his riding style inside out, and fans have plenty to be hopeful for.

There’s bags of motivation, too. Because if he can win on the RC16, he’ll be the first rider to win a premier-class race with three different manufacturers.

Yamaha struggled to get into the top 10 during the first day and a half at the Portimao test, but Fabio Quartararo found a chunk of time during the final afternoon session when he switched back to the 2022 aero package. It was enough to boost the Frenchman up to third overall, just 0.334sec off Bagnaia.

Teams have the ability to introduce two aero updates per rider throughout the season, so it’s not a hugely pressing problem ahead of the opening race. Franco Morbidelli is still struggling to come to terms with the YZR-M1 and ended the last preseason test in 19th place, 1.098sec off his fellow Italian, despite vowing to adjust his riding style to mimic his successful Monster Yamaha teammate.

MotoGP is introducing 12-lap sprint races on the Saturday afternoon of every grand prix weekend, in which riders will vie for half the amount of points of a full-length GP. Instead of the four practice sessions and Q1 and Q2 qualifying sessions of seasons gone by, teams and riders will have two practice sessions on Friday, called P1 and P2, which will be 45 and 60 minutes respectively.

Friday’s combined times will determine the top 10 riders who qualify for a spot directly into Q2. A 30-minute P3 session will kick off proceedings on Saturday morning, followed by the 15-minute Q1 and Q2 sessions, which will determine the starting grid for both the Sprint race and the full-length GP.

Following some controversy during last year’s season, 2023 will see the introduction of mandatory unified tyre-pressure monitoring systems for the front hoops of MotoGP machinery.

Minimum pressure limits have been in place for a few seasons, but because each team used different monitoring systems, it was hard to enforce. Now all teams will be issued with unified hardware to ensure all riders abide by the rules. One thing we can be sure of is that front tyre pressures will remain equally controversial in 2023.

The rules remain the same for the 12-lap sprint races, albeit fuel will be limited to 12L instead of 22L for a GP. In terms of points awarded, the winner will pick up 12 championships points, second place will be awarded nine points, third place gets seven, then six, five, etc, all the way down to ninth place.