MotoGP, Ducati and Red Bull, dominating in 2024... or not?

The curtain has fallen on the  F1 and the MotoGP World Championships on November 26th. In both cases, the favorites won, but with one difference: if Max Verstappen was already able to celebrate his second consecutive Championship in Qatar at the beginning of October, Pecco Bagnaia was only able to celebrate the same result in the grand finale in Valencia. 

Faced with the 19 GPs that the Dutch driver won out of 22, and the 11 out of 40, including the Italian rider's Sprint Race, it seems difficult ti imagine that someone in the immediate future will be able to cause trouble for them, especially considering that, when it comes to  regulations, there won’t be substantial changes.

Technically speaking, the Red Bull is the best in the lot and, just to limit the hopes of its opponents, the beginning of 2023 confirmed that, even with gaps, Adrian Newey was able to shorten them quickly. The proof of this is the constructors title won six rounds from the end.

As for Ducati, an important contribution to its superpower came from the presence of eight Desmosedici on the grid. It’s no coincidence that the Pramac satellite team won the Championship for the first time in the Premier Class, and they would've even scored big with Jorge Martin, if he hadn’t ended up falling.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, it’s very likely that we’ll witness a new Austrian dominance, perhaps with just a few more battles for a second and third place between Mercedes and Ferrari. The feeling, however, is that the others will still be distant. 

The MotoGP should, instead, offer a few more unknowns. Even if Pecco will be starting out as captain, the presence of Marc Marquez in Gresini Racing could, from a certain point onwards in the Championship, disrupt the cards. Then, of course, we mustn’t forget the vice-champion in charge, who’ll do everything he can to redeem himself. Instead, the direct rivals, KTM and Aprilia, are very likely to move forward, threatening the Ducatis in more races than they did this year while, for Yamaha and Honda, the most popular hypothesis is that their ascent will be anything but a fast walk.