CAL CRUTCHLOW SAYS LIBERTY MEDIA HAS MADE MOTO GP WEEKENDS A “NIGHTMARE” FOR RIDERS

Cal Crutchlow says Liberty Media’s growing influence in MotoGP has made race weekends harder for riders, even if the changes have been positive for fans. Speaking during free practice at the Aragon Grand Prix, the British rider—back in MotoGP for the first time since 2023 after replacing Johann Zarco at LCR while the Frenchman recovered from a serious crash at Barcelona—pointed to a shift in how riders spend their time across a weekend.

Crutchlow acknowledged that the sport’s commercial and media direction has improved the viewing experience from the outside. “What I have seen from MotoGP over the last couple of years from Dorna and Liberty and MotoGP as a whole, how it has grown, it has been great to be able to watch from the outside as a fan,” he said. “I watch it on TV. I’m actively a fan like most of the people watching at home. But what they’ve done with media, with the content, the accessibility for fans, all of these things, it’s been great.”

However, he argued that the same push for greater accessibility and content comes at a cost for the people tasked with developing the bikes. “For the riders? Nightmare. I would tell you now straight, the riders, it’s difficult for them. These race weekends are super, super difficult, super hard. They have no time,” Crutchlow said. He stressed that the issue is not that engineers are building the machines without rider input, but that riders appear to have less opportunity to contribute because schedules are tighter.

Crutchlow linked the problem to two factors. First, he said the field is so close that bikes are increasingly similar across manufacturers, which can reduce the room for riders to make meaningful changes through feedback alone. Second, he said riders simply do not have enough time in the garage compared to the past. “Whether that’s media commitments or physio, because there’s 44 races now, and they’ve crashed. Working with the team, it seems more difficult now, you don’t have enough time like you used to,” he explained.

His comments come as Liberty Media continues to face scrutiny over proposals aimed at modernising MotoGP’s product. The company has been trying to replicate its Formula 1 playbook—using elements such as street circuits and more social-style content—to grow global reach and commercial revenue. Crutchlow also referenced broader concerns that MotoGP could fall into a “Drive to Survive trap,” a phrase used by Paolo Pavesio, who has said he does not want the sport to lose its identity.

While MotoGP has not yet shown clear benefits from Liberty’s influence, Crutchlow’s message was that the fan-facing side of the changes may be working, but the rider workload and reduced garage time are making weekends “super hard” for those on the bikes.