Pol: “You cannot believe” how much MotoGP will change in 2027

Pol Espargaro has described the “insane” difference between the current 1000cc/Michelin MotoGP machines and next year’s new 850cc/Pirelli bikes.

While the lap times might not be too dissimilar, Espargaro, making his return to MotoGP action at Silverstone this weekend, believes the scale of change under the 2027 rules is vastly underestimated.

The KTM test rider has been heavily involved in the development of next year’s Austrian machine, with this weekend’s appearance in place of the injured Maverick Vinales his first outing on the soon-to-be-extinct 1000cc/Michelin bike since February’s Sepang test.

"You cannot believe how much MotoGP will change"

Speaking after Friday practice, where Espargaro was classified 21st out of 23 riders, he admitted that returning to the current machine had been something of a shock.

“You cannot believe how much the category will change next year,” Espargaro began. “How many riders are going to struggle in this new [850cc] category, it's insane.

“Now I start to understand Toprak, you know? Because to jump from Michelin and this [1000cc] bike to Pirelli and a bit smaller [850cc] engine, it's pretty easy.

“But to jump the opposite way, to the 1000 [and Michelins], it's another world.

“I used to ride the 1000 bike for many years, and I feel like a rookie [today]. I feel like I need to understand again the time distance in every corner, like braking points, stopping efficiency, the lines where you touch the throttle and where you end up.

“From fourth gear on, this bike is insane, the torque is insane and it's something that you need to integrate and normalise.

“At the moment I'm super stressed, because all the inputs are coming too fast and I'm not able, so today I didn't want to make any stupid mistakes and go for it tomorrow.”

Espargaro then warned the existing MotoGP grid that riders already accustomed to Pirelli rubber from the 765cc-powered Moto2 class could have a significant advantage.

“I feel more ready to ride a Moto2 than a MotoGP [after the 850cc/Pirelli tests]!” Espargaro said.

“I was chatting with [Dani] Holgado before he started his second session in the afternoon, and I felt a little bit closer to the Moto2 than MotoGP, seeing how they ride and looking at some data.

“The change is insane. It's going to be a challenge for the current MotoGP riders [used to] the 1000 bikes with the Michelin against the Moto2 riders who will come next year.

“They are going to be insanely fast.”

Holgado, who will race for Gresini Ducati next year, is among four Moto2 riders tipped to join MotoGP next season.

Perhaps the biggest difference will be physical, with Espargaro - a full-time MotoGP rider from 2014 to 2023 - claiming he could race twice as far on an 850.

“You cannot even compare,” he said. “With the 850 and the Pirellis I can do two races in a row. It's much, much less physical.

“And with the 1000 bike, after two laps the heart rate is so high that it's insane. The level of the current 1000 bikes with the Michelins, it's so brutal.

“The level of craziness of this category right now is amazing. And it's good to step out of it and to jump on another bike to understand it.”

As well as the smaller engine capacity and change of tyres, MotoGP will also ban ride-height devices and place further restrictions on aerodynamics next season.

“I think so,” Espargaro replied when asked if the 2027 changes will also be good for the watching fans.

“For two things. The first is that riders are going to get less injured, because the speed, the category is going to be much smoother, let's say.

“And then apart from the beginning of the year, when some manufacturers are going to start faster than the others, when everyone is going to be more or less on the same level, even maybe the second year, the competition is going to be super close. But it will take time.”

‘It's a kind of Superbike’

On that subject, Espargaro believes Ducati should have an advantage due to its years of Pirelli knowledge from the WorldSBK championship.

“I mean it's easy to think that Ducati is going to be fast from the first day, because they have all the information from Superbike,” he said.

“In the end it's a kind of superbike. The [850 MotoGP] is not changing much from the bikes from Superbike. It's a very similar bike, and for sure they are going to have some advantage.

“Especially how to treat the tyres. What they need to do on the tyres to make them last better on the races, or to perform better on one lap. They have a lot of information that the other manufacturers don't, that are not in superbikes.”

WorldSBK title leader Nicolo Bulega, expected to join MotoGP with VR46 Ducati next season, is reported to have set the pace during last week’s private 850cc test at Mugello.