Marc Marquez, Francesco Bagnaia back MotoGP restart rule, but side-effect spotted

Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez and factory Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia have backed MotoGP’s revised bike restart rule ahead of the 2026 season.

Introduced to “minimise the exposure of track marshals to danger”, the new regulation prevents bikes from being restarted on the track or run-off areas after an accident.

Instead, any fallen machine with a stalled engine must be moved to the service road before attempting to restart.

That will vastly increase the time taken for a fallen rider to potentially rejoin, while some might argue that extracting a bike all the way to the service road puts marshals in danger for longer than an ‘on-the-spot’ push start.

However, it will put an end to situations where riders refuse to abandon their crashed bikes, even after several failed restart attempts at the edge of the circuit.

Crucially, the rule change applies only if the engine is not running. If a rider keeps the engine alive after a fall, they are still permitted to rejoin as before.

“I agree, because in the end it’s the safer way,” Marc Marquez said. “What I read is that it’s only if the engine stops. So if you have a small crash and the engine didn’t stop, then you can rejoin."

The nine-time world champion, visibly angry when marshals almost dropped his bike after an accident in practice at Motegi last year, added:

“It’s true that sometimes it will be difficult for the marshals, but if the rule says, ‘If the bike stops, you cannot rejoin’, then it’s clear. So it’s better for everybody.”

Marquez is renowned for salvaging points after crashes, most recently at Jerez last season, where he recovered to twelfth place after an early fall.

'It’s important to keep the [engine] on'

“It’s a good change, I think, for safety,” added Francesco Bagnaia, before joking: “Honestly, I never had the luck of Marc, my bike always broke when I crashed!”

That highlights a potential side-effect of the rule: It'll now be even more important for MotoGP riders to hang on to their bikes during accidents to try and prevent the engine from stalling.

“I need to hold on more to the bike,” Bagnaia admitted.

“But it’s something I try to learn, because Marc obviously, like in Jerez last year, crashed and was able to restart again for points.

“You can’t push [start] the bike if it’s stopped now. But if it’s still on, you can. So it’s important to try to keep the [engine] on.”

Holding on to the controls as a bike slides off the track increases the risk of a rider being injured by their machine.

Meanwhile, the regulation could also lead teams to adjust anti-stall strategies, keeping engines running for longer when bikes are on their side.

However, that would need to be balanced against engine damage.