Luca Marini has welcomed MotoGP’s new Sprint qualifying format ahead of 2027, despite admitting it will make race weekends significantly more stressful for riders on the grid. The revised schedule, officially confirmed ahead of the Indonesian Grand Prix, introduces a separate 15-minute Sprint qualifying session at the end of Friday action.
This follows a shortened, retitled 30-minute FP2, while Saturday’s FP3 will also be reduced from 30 down to 20 minutes. Furthermore, all riders will now take part in Grand Prix Q1 collectively, moving away from the current system where the Friday top ten progress directly to Q2, with the fastest 12 eventually progressing to the pole-position shootout.
Marini stated that having separate qualifying sessions for the Sprint and Grand Prix had been something riders requested ever since the sprint format arrived in 2023. "It’s a proposal coming from the teams for make the show even better, to try to gain more popularity, and I think it can be a positive change," the HRC rider explained.
The structural revamp arrives alongside MotoGP’s major technical shift toward 850cc machinery and Pirelli tyres in 2027. One prominent concern raised by the Italian rider is that having the entire grid on track together during short 15-minute sessions could increase traffic issues and stewards' workload regarding penalties.
"All the riders inside 15 minutes is not so easy to manage. For sure, they will have more work to do on penalties, because this is something that can happen," Luca Marini concluded, acknowledging the extra pressure of dealing with multiple time attacks every single weekend.
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