MotoGP will implement a new race radio communication system between race director and riders from the 2025 season, Autosport can reveal.
A meeting was convened by Dorna last Thursday at Misano, where the series’ promoter informed the teams about its decision to introduce radio communication in MotoGP.
The system will be introduced in phases and initially only the race director will be allowed to communicate with the riders, with messages being kept short and concise - and always aimed at improving safety.
In the second phase, which could begin as early as 2026, the radio will work both ways, allowing riders to talk and reply to the race direction.
The final step, which still doesn’t have a concrete implementation date, will be similar to Formula 1, allowing open communication between riders and their teams on the pitwall. This step would largely be in pursuit of improving the TV spectacle.
Dorna and its TV team have been working on a radio communication system for years.
In 2022, some riders mounted an earpiece on their helmets to receive messages from the race direction at a test in Jerez. Another test was held at Valencia last year to further evaluate the system.
After some intensive work, MotoGP has now managed to design an earpiece that is not placed inside the rider's ear in the helmet, but in the earlobe outside the ear, with the sound being transmitted by vibration. This makes the system less intrusive.
“It can be very interesting for safety, if for example there is an accident, a rider in the middle of the track, that Race Direction can warn you immediately," explained Maverick Vinales, whose Aprilia team has been asked to test the device on team-mate Aleix Espargaro and test rider Lorenzo Savadori in Misano.
Vinales added: “It's clear that times are changing and that this kind of thing makes for a better show. My favourite phrase I can already tell you, it will be: 'Now don't bother me!'”
Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, who tested the system at Jerez in 2022 and at Valencia last year, was once again one of the few riders who got to sample it at Misano on Monday.
“Sergi [Sendra, Dorna's head of TV] is working very well on this,” he explained.
“He has been developing it for a long time and I think it's a great idea for many reasons. We still have a long way to go, because with the noise of the bike it is still difficult to hear well.
“My friend and my crew chief told them not to talk to me in sector 3 in the fast section, but it's a bit weird to hear people talking when you're riding and when you're not breathing.
“We also have to work on the volume of the audio, because in some areas you cannot hear well but under braking you can hear a little better.
“In the Valencia test we also used it, I think it's the third time I've used it. I think it's great to have communication when something serious happens on the track. If there is oil on the track and nobody knows about it, for example.”
For Quartararo, the system can help with safety issues, but it would not have prevented Jorge Martin's mistake of pitting too early for the wet-specification bike in the San Marino Grand Prix.
