‘Impossible’ MotoGP doesn’t have ‘democratic’ combined weight | MotoGP

The issue of combined weight in MotoGP is a long-running debate, with physically larger riders feeling they are unfairly penalised.

Past pleas by the likes of Scott Redding (78kg/185cm) and Danilo Petrucci (80kg/181cm) fell on deaf ears, with the counter-argument being that – while a combined weight is appropriate in classes with less power – the advantages and disadvantages are more balanced on a 300hp MotoGP machine.

Luca Marini, who at 69kg/184cm is one of the bigger riders on the present MotoGP grid, doesn’t agree. But it’s not pure acceleration where he feels most penalised, but the amount of tyre ‘stress’ and ‘energy’ needed to produce that acceleration.

The Italian, who previously raced under the combined 217kg rider and bike limit in Moto2, said:

“There is a minimum [combined] weight in Moto2 and I was over the limit, but [only] like 4kg. And it’s OK if between me and other rider there is 4kg.

“It’s more difficult in MotoGP. I’m trying to be more strict with my training and with my diet, because there is no [combined] minimum weight so there are also differences like 10kg between me and another Ducati rider.

“And this, even if we have a lot of power, changes a lot the behaviour of the bike and also how you stress the tyres.

“Because in a lot of tracks, we feel and we analyse that I stress more the tyres because with more kilos you need to put more energy in the tyre to accelerate in the same way.

“It’s not something that you lose acceleration; the acceleration, also in the data, is the same. But the energy that you put into the tyre is more. So you need to be very careful with the rear tyre, especially because you don’t want to use it so much.

“And at the beginning of the season I remember that many races I finished the rear tyre [grip] and it’s something that we worked a lot on and now we are really competitive and I’m one of the guys that uses less the rear tyre.

“This is a very good, like in Phillip Island I was managing very well.”

‘Impossible’ that they didn’t bring a combined weight into MotoGP

Nonetheless, the VR46 Ducati rider is adamant MotoGP needs to join the smaller grand prix classes in introducing a combined weight.

“It’s something that is impossible that they didn’t bring to MotoGP before. I don’t know why. It’s something really democratic, I think,” Marini said. “Why does a heavy rider need to be penalised for something that is just his nature? It’s something with no sense in my opinion.”

When Dani Pedrosa (51kg/160cm) was racing, the argument against a minimum weight was that the Spaniard already suffered in terms of being unable to move his (limited) body weight around and loading his bike with ballast would make it even harder for him to handle.

But Pedrosa was an extreme example and with Marini’s team-mate Marco Bezzecchi (61kg) listed as lightest on this year’s grid, the smaller riders would only need minimal ballast to meet a combined weight or -…