THE MotoGP QUESTION: TRACTION CONTROL

Jorge Lorenzo: "I prefer to stick with the traction control. I can control the bike, but the power of a MotoGP machine is huge, more than 250 hp, so you need some help. Without traction control, it would be impossible to ride these machines. Traction control also means more safety. Sometimes the bike reacts differently to your way of riding, but for sure traction control always saves the crash. Even with traction control we sometimes struggle to keep the grip on the rear tire, so I think it would be almost impossible to ride our bikes without it."

Valentino Rossi: "I have always loved to ride bikes with less electronics, and I can say that it was really great to race with those machines. But it is great also nowadays. It is incredible how fast we can ride with our machines, especially in the corner. Maybe the races were different when we were riding bikes without it or with less traction control. Now we can ride really fast from the first to the very last lap. This means that you have to be totally concentrated throughout the whole race. A mistake is not allowed. I think we are speaking about two different eras and, I like them both."

Marc Marquez: "I'm used to riding with traction control, so it's normal for me. But I would like it."

Nicky Hayden: "With the bikes we are riding now, you need some electronics. Consider 270 hp! The level is so high that you cannot ride without traction control, but I would prefer to have less electronics."

Andrea Dovizioso: "No doubt. Without traction control!"

Scott Redding: "For me, it would be better to race without traction control, but it is not possible to put the genie back in the bottle. And if others have it, then you need to use it also or you are at a disadvantage."

Bradley Smith: "I just rode the Suzuka 8 Hours on a Yamaha R1 with basically no traction control and it was a pleasure. The engine is designed for the public, or for production racers, so it is more friendly. They have less electronics. On the contrary, our MotoGP bikes are projected to have maximum power and performance. I think from a safety point of view, electronics helps a lot. Electronics is also the reason why we are able to ride so fast and consistently in the races. I think we need to limit the amount of electronics, but keep it for safety reasons."

  Pol Espargaro: "It would be impossible to ride our bikes without traction control because of their power, the speeds that we reach and also the inclination we do. Thanks to the traction control, we can do lap times that weren't imaginable before, and I find this a positive aspect. In the end, we want to ride as fast as possible. The Moto2 bikes, for example, don't have the traction control but the tires are wider and the power they have doesn't require traction control. In this case, traction control doesn't compromise the ride, but in MotoGP we need it."