Francesco Bagnaia has criticised the poor attendance at MotoGP Safety Commission meetings, calling it “utter nonsense” to believe riders cannot influence decisions by taking part.
Bagnaia made those remarks after Friday practice in Barcelona, where his former title rival Jorge Martin suffered a concussion after crashing heavily at Turn 12.
The incident led to many riders, including Martin himself, to call for a larger run-off area at the fast right-hander, with the current gravel trap failing to prevent the Spaniard from hitting the front-fairing of his Aprilia.
Ahead of this weekend, several riders downplayed safety concerns linked to Barcelona’s notoriously low-grip surface, but unusually low temperatures made life tricky for them on Friday.
Bagnaia stressed that MotoGP’s Safety Commission, which gives riders a forum to voice their concerns on Friday before each grand prix weekend, remains an important tool for pushing for change in the championship
“This track has been like this for at least six years. I think it’s the most beautiful track there is, but it’s completely ruined by the grip,” the factory Ducati rider said.
“It’s a disaster. There’s no grip, you can’t do anything. When you try to push as hard as you’d like, you crash. And this morning, it’s not like Jorge Martin did anything out of the ordinary.
“He went in, maybe took a slightly wider line, lost it, and crashed hard into the air fence. Now we have the Safety Commission meeting in five minutes. Maybe by talking about it, we can put even more pressure on them. But the problem isn’t so much with the Safety Commission. It’s more about who owns the circuit. They’re the ones who decide what to do, so that’s complicated.”
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
Attendance at the weekly Safety Commission meetings has declined in recent years, with Bagnaia, Pramac’s Jack Miller and Honda rider Luca Marini the only ones present on a regular basis.
Several riders have questioned the effectiveness of such meetings, with Tech3’s Enea Bastianini admitting in March that he stopped attending due to frustration with a lack of progress on key issues.
However, Bagnaia dismissed suggestions that riders are powerless in influencing decisions related to safety matters, describing their lack of attendance as a “serious” concern.
“How can you think something won’t work if you don’t even try it? To me, that’s utter nonsense,” said the two-time MotoGP champion.
“Last week at Le Mans, there were three of us on the Safety Commission, and it was an important meeting because a rule was added on the fly [the change to pit lane entry procedures]
“I’m one of those who think that if you add a rule, you do it at the end of the year, not in the middle of the season. In the previous race, a rider [Marquez], by doing that, scored 12 points; in the next race, he would have been given a ‘ride-through’ penalty – that’s not right. So we had to push a little.
“There were three of us, and we were all in complete agreement. But it’s a shame. To avoid going to the Safety Commission, some say they don’t have time. Because the reality is that nothing happens. Things just don’t get done. Because if there were many of us, we’d get things done. But the problem is they don’t have time to come to the Safety Commission. Which, to me, is something even more serious.”
While MotoGP has dedicated bodies to represent manufacturers and teams, all previous attempts to create a Grand Prix Drivers Association-style rider union did not come to fruition.
On Thursday, Marini also suggested that riders should consider electing a representative who speaks on their behalf, but admitted that there is a lack of unity among the 2026 grid on major issues.
Asked for his thoughts on the matter, Bagnaia said: “A riders’ representative? For now, let them all come to the commission, because if we say the same thing a union representative might say, what changes? Nothing.
“We’ve already tried that. We tried it a while back with Sylvain Guintoli, but then, unfortunately, things didn’t work out because we weren’t all on the same page. There were riders, like those from KTM, who didn’t want to participate.”
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