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It is no longer time for heroes, one might say. In fact, although possible, Marc Marquez and Enea Bastianini's abandonment of any idea of taking part in the Americas Grand Prix was not probable.
It wasn't if we consider how the ‘riders of risk' were represented until a few years ago. Very few if the skier Sofia Goggia last December evoked the courage of motorcycle racers when she completed her downhill run at St. Moritz with her hand fixed to the racket with adhesive tape.
Those times, however, have passed. Probably for good. The fact is that when Takazumi Katayama raced with both collarbones broken at Abbazia it was a gesture of individual madness, like the one that led him to race at the Tourist Trophy, despite him not being a specialist.
A little further on we witnessed the exceptional feat of Loris Capirossi who raced at Assen with a fractured hand in 2000 and in even more recent times that of Jorge Lorenzo, in 2013, again at Assen, who finished fifth in the Dutch GP, just 48 hours after his crash in second free practice and just over 24 hours after surgery on his fractured collarbone on Thursday night in Barcelona. The reigning world champion, on that occasion, did not want to be called a hero: “I'm not, the real heroes are those who manage to eat at the end of the month. I'm the lucky one who gets paid to do this, which is what I like!” he said.
It is no coincidence that on both of those occasions, both Loris and Jorge were accompanied by Doctor Costa, the riders' traumatologist who raised the bar ever higher for those injured riders who strongly wanted to compete.
Today Costa is gone, and so is his Clinica Mobile in the paddock and every rider has crowds of doctors by his side. Not that it's obligatory to obey them, of course. Indeed, it can be said that the last rider of risk was Marquez himself, on his unfortunate return to the track with a broken arm after the crash in Jerez in 2020.
After all, the world championship has changed profoundly in recent years, and in 2023 it changes even more with the introduction of a Sprint Race on Saturday which, albeit with half the points, has led MotoGP to double the number of races: from 21 to 42!
This means completely changing the dynamics of this sport, not only compared to when the number of Grands Prix fluctuated between 13 and 16 a year.
Today, more than a little crazy, a rider must be intelligent and able to reel himself in. Win where he can and when he needs to but accumulate points in all other races. And in this sense, Bagnaia's mistake in Argentina is truly unforgivable.
At this point, however, with so many races, the world championship title runs the risk of going not to the fastest rider, but to the most consistent. Or simply the best at keeping out of trouble, which will be more and more because from the beginning of the season the riders on the track are divided into two categories: those who aspire to the world championship and those who, on the other hand, can at best aspire to win a race or two. An important distinction because the latter can always afford to risk a little more.
Why, therefore, at this point not reintroduce the net points system valid until 1976 when only 6 out of 10 Grands Prix were valid? This would allow unfortunate riders like Enea Bastianini to still be in contention for the world championship, instead of being there counting the gap to the top. Of course, that would make identifying the leader even more difficult than it is now. But in a period when today's Grands Prix are pointlessly complicated, it doesn't seem such a bad idea.
