Martin Brundle comments about Lewis Hamilton show MotoGP is making a mistake with Rider of the Race award

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While one category is run on two wheels and the other on four, MotoGP and Formula 1 have their similarities.

It is therefore fitting that Liberty Media, F1’s owners, is looking to take over MotoGP in 2025. With negotiations ongoing since last year, the EU are set to approve Liberty’s deal by the summer.

The American media company is looking to replicate their monumental success with F1 with the premier class, expanding its global audience. Ahead of their takeover, MotoGP have already taken inspiration from the pinnacle of motorsport.

In 2025, MotoGP expanded the calendar to 22 races, making it the longest season in the sport’s history. F1 underwent its largest expansion in 2024, hosting 24 Grand Prix.

F1’s tyre supplier Pirelli will join MotoGP in 2027, replacing Michelin in time for the new regulations. Early indications have also suggested that some motorcycle races will be placed in line with the F1 calendar, but the latest gimmick to cross over to MotoGP is a huge mistake for the sport.

MotoGP is making a mistake with the Ridier of the Race award as proved by Martin Brundle’s ‘odd choices’ comments

For the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, MotoGP will introduce the Rider of the Race award for the first time. It allows fans around the world to vote on the best rider of the day, just like F1 with ‘Driver of the Day.’

While it does improve engagement, the Driver of the Day award is F1 is quite controversial. Simply, it offers little value to the championship as drivers do not score points for it, but who wins the award has also caused uproar over the years.

In 2016, despite retiring on lap 17, Rio Haryanto was given the award at the Australian Grand Prix. That was until it was discovered that an Indonesian IP address had attempted to rig the results and the Manor driver was stripped of the accolade.

At the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton received the award after he finished fifth from ninth on the grid. This was criticised by Martin Brundle, who said in his commentary: “There have been some odd choices for ‘Drive of the Days’ lately.”

As F1 has shown, the winner of the Driver of the Day award may not go to the most deserving driver. The exact same can happen in MotoGP, with fans free to vote for whoever they wish, regardless of how they perform.

What have MotoGP fans been saying about the Rider of the Race award?

While the Rider of the Race award will let fans engage with the sport while races unfold, it ultimately has little value in terms of the championship.

Several fans certainly feel that way as they took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice their distain for the award, fearing it will be just a popularity contest between the riders.

One fan wrote: “Bad idea. Because there are so many Marc fans so I bet most of the time he will get voted at almost every race. Coming from me as no Rossi fan.”

Another user wrote: “Pointless. Award determined by the amount of fans. I’m sure Marc won this at COTA, even tho he crashed,” while another echoed: “Marquez will easily win them all even if he crashes.”