Well, this is a shame in my eyes as its slowly starting to be a ducati roadshow now? Yamaha are nowhere if it wasn't for fabio and ktm (like suzuki) are up and down. Obviously, suzuki weren't at the top 3 every weekend but still nice to see another team there. Aprilia doing well is good for the future too and hopefully they can keep it up. Basically, suzuki are skint
Umm interesting and agreed, a sad loss. I do wonder what the realistic cost of running a motogp factory level team per year is? I could see it being a lot of bike sales to cover it and maybe sales have dropped to a worrying level to sustain it. With recent events in the economy, Ukraine etc do you think this is a crystal ball moment trying to predict future finances or do you think its not really money and they just aren't getting the results that they anticipated or hoped for?
So sad to think they were Moto GP champions in 2020 and next year they wont even be in the championship lets hope KTM and Aprilia keep improving and Honda can sort their problems out. i read that Joan Mir's basic salary was about 6 million euros and Alex rins is about 2.5 million the bikes can be up to 2.5 million each per season
With worldwide inflation now at full tilt I think it's no surprise that manufacturers are scrutinising their budgets looking for cut backs. Back in the 80's-90's, race bred superbikes led the sales charts so success on the track was deemed as high priority but I don't believe that's the case any more. The cost of fuel alone has pushed up shipping costs exponentially so you can imagine the financial burden of moving a MotoGP team and all the entourage round the planet and that's before you even start thinking about manufacturing costs and rider fees.
The other japanese manufacturers have other big heavy industries behind them but even Honda struggled with finances a couple of years back. Ducati have audi (atm) but if that went? Who knows what shape they'd be in behind the scenes... EDIT: MIR IS TO JOIN HONDA (REPLACING POL)
I imagine there are many factors as well as financial why Suzuki are leaving. They leave only Yamaha trying to win with an in-line 4. In the next few years they will be forced to use partially then fully synthetic fuel. Rules designed to limit costs also limit freedom to explore design that has any relevance to their "product". So the cost vs benefit becomes ever harder to justify. The kudos gained by success in Motogp is important to the likes of Ducati and Aprilia in selling their product, probably not so much for Suzuki.