For many years, MotoGP riders have had the opportunity to share their opinions, comments and concerns with the championship organization during Safety Commission meetings – which take place every Friday of Grand Prix weekends.
Carlos Ezpeleta, Dorna sporting director, praised this relationship with the riders: “Since 2004, because we had an accident with Daijiro Kato, these meetings take place every Friday – all MotoGP riders are invited, and quite a few usually come – and we are talking about safety on the circuits. But we talk about a lot of other things. […] And we like to have this good, close and open relationship with the drivers, so that they tell us what concerns them and their opinions on the championship and also on business.
The Spaniard then highlighted the level of detail with which drivers discuss circuit conditions: “We talk about everything; it always starts with the circuit – the previous circuit, if something happened on Saturday and Sunday of the previous race, they also give us their opinion, they usually focus a lot on the marshals. And then they give us their opinion on the circuit, where there could be a bump. The level of detail and sensitivity they have regarding track conditions is like a movie. “There’s a place in turn 3, on the inside, where the paint is slipping a little more.” And you go over there and you see it’s not painted quite well. And it’s 5 km of track, 10 km of white line because it’s on both sides, it’s a lot of meters of paint. And we reach this level where “the connection between the edge of the track and the asphalt, there is a step”. And you go there and there’s one; It’s a step of half a centimeter, but they notice it. But they go so close to the limit and bend so much that their sensitivity is very high.”
And, whatever the problem, it’s resolved as quickly as possible, according to Ezpeleta: ‘If it is possible to repair it this very afternoon, it is repaired; quite a few things are repaired on Friday evening. […] For example, every time a motorcycle falls, it creates a groove in the asphalt, and we continue to repair it. They tell you, “this one is in the way, this one is not in the way.” You repair everything you can on Friday, and if not, for the following year‘.
