How MotoGP crash statistics defy common beliefs about 2024

MotoGP’s official crash statistics for 2024 paint a very different picture to what many would have perceived about the recently-concluded season.

Without looking at the numbers, one would have thought MotoGP broke the record for the most crashes in a single season. After all, this season was branded as the “championship of mistakes” by Francesco Bagnaia, primarily due to him and title rival Jorge Martin making critical errors at crucial junctures of the season.

But, MotoGP had ‘just’ 335 crashes over 20 rounds in 2024, down from 358 in 2023, which also featured the same number of events. In fact, the number of crashes recorded this season were the same as 2022, the last year before the sprint format was introduced.

In terms of average, 2024 featured 16.8 crashes per round, which is down not only on 2023 but also 2017, when premier class bikes were much slower than now.

The reduction in crashes is particularly surprising given the new rear tyre introduced by Michelin meant riders were riding faster than ever at most tracks and, hence, closer to the limit.

The difference in grip also led to the phenomenon of ‘rear pushing the front’, leading to even more falls than usual.

Riders like Brad Binder, Fabio di Giannantonio, Alex Rins and Miguel Oliveira all missed one or more races due to crashes, while even wildcard and stand-in competitors were seen hitting the ground on several occasions.

However, it wasn’t just cumulative crash figures that are puzzling, as the individual rider statistics also appear to defy how viewers summed up the 2024 season.

In particular, much was made of Bagnaia’s ill-timed crashes during the year, including his exit from second in the sprint race at the season’s penultimate weekend in Malaysia.

However, it’s interesting to note that the eventual 2024 runner-up suffered just nine falls during the year, at an average of 0.45 per round. That means the number of grands prix he won this year (11) exceeded his crash tally, seemingly belying the perception that his 2024 campaign was riddled by frequent crashes.

In fact, along with VR46’s Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia suffered the fewest falls of any full-season Ducati rider in 2024.

For comparison, eventual champion Martin crashed a total of 15 times this year on his Pramac-entered Ducati, while Gresini’s Marc Marquez was involved in 24 incidents in 2024 on an older example of the Desmosedici.

Sadly for Bagnaia, eight of his nine crashes took place in qualifying, sprint or the race, which meant he was penalised more harshly for his mistakes (or for getting tangled in crashes with rivals).

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing crash

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

But Bagnaia wasn’t the only one who perhaps developed a false reputation over 2024. The Honda RC213V was still seen as a bike prone to frequent crashes, a trait it seemingly carried over from 2023. However, again, the statistics do not quite justify the tag given to the bike.

New HRC signing Luca Marini suffered just four crashes all year, fewer than any full-time rider on this year’s grid.

Even team-mate and 2020 champion Joan Mir, who retired from half the grands prix this season, was only ninth on the ‘crash leaderboard’ with 17 falls, behind not only rookie Pedro Acosta and Honda-to-Ducati convert Marquez, but also the likes of KTM duo Jack Miller and Binder, as well as Aprilia’s Alex Marquez.

Likewise, Honda’s highest point scorer Johann Zarco was involved in ‘just’ 15 crashes this year, while his team-mate Takaaki Nakagami shunted just seven times in his final full-season in MotoGP.

Of course, it’s important to note that Honda riders were so far behind the competition for much of the year that they didn’t always have a solid reason to push for better results. And despite some progress from the Japanese marque, the bike was still a handful to ride at the end of the year.

But, the picture may not be as bleak as it was in 2023, when then-HRC rider Marc Marquez and team-mate Mir crashed a total of 53 times between them.

Over in Moto2 and Moto3, the total number of crashes fell to their lowest figures since MotoGP started officially tallying up these figures in 2010. This could be down to a switch in tyre suppliers, with Pirelli replacing Dunlop in both classes this year.