It’s all happening in MotoGP right now – the championship has new owners for the first time in three decades and is undergoing the biggest regulation change since 2002, so what does Casey Stoner think about it all?

His opinions are worth a lot: Casey Stoner gave Ducati its first rider and constructors titles way back in 2007 and regained the title four years later with Honda. He still takes a close interest in MotoGP and has strong views on its future.

We know you’re not a big fan of electronic rider controls, so what do you think of the current situation in MotoGP?

It’s always a touchy subject, because the riders want it one way and the engineers and manufacturers want it another. But as we’re not creating streetbikes out of MotoGP bikes, I don’t think we should be thinking about developing the electronics as far as they’ve gone and now they’ve brought in a whole other level of electronics (the so-called stability control that, in theory, saves highsides). The riders say you can literally twist the throttle, press the (ride-height) button, the rear drops down and nothing (bad) happens.

Casey Stoner reckons advanced technology isn’t making MotoGP bikes any safer and has levelled the playing field of talent

Don’t you think these technologies are making the bikes safer?

We’ve got the tyre-temperature issues, the (bike) stability issues and some of the worst accidents I think I’ve ever seen GP, yet somehow these bikes are safer? I think last year, or the year before, half the grid was out with injury. That’s not safer.

If you take all of the (rider) control out of the rear of the bike, you lose any fear of the bike and then you just start to push harder and harder in one aspect, which is the front end.

At the end of his career with Honda, Stoner was a family man

The margin for error in the braking point is tiny, so you have everybody absolutely on the limit in this area and you’re carrying so much speed, which is why we’re seeing so many bikes ending up in the fence. So there needs to be a point that we stop adding all this technology, that we stop making it easy to come out of corners, because having anti-wheelie isn’t a safety issue, it’s a convenience.

He was a kid in hurry to get to the top, aged just 21 when he won his first MotoGP title. Here he is in 2002, his first year in the 250GP class

The electronics can be a safety issue, but they don’t need to be something completely relied upon, because right now we’re making champions out of engineers, we’re not making champions out of riders. We’re going into an era of all the mistakes that F1 made.

MotoGP will go from 1000cc engines to 850s in 2027, with reduced aero and no ride-height controls. Your thoughts?

There’s going to be less top speed and with lighter bikes the braking zones will be shorter, so there’ll be less opportunity for overtaking. And the bikes will still have winglets, so that’s going to create turbulence and they’re still going to have stability issues and high (tyre) temperature issues.

I just don’t know how nobody can see the problems – that each step they take in this direction is going the wrong way. We’re just following the direction of all the issues that F1 has spent years getting rid of.

Once bitter rivals, now Stoner and Valentino Rossi are friends

I want to see those incredible slow-motion cameras showing sliding, showing the tyres squishing, riders controlling wheelies coming out of corners.

At the moment, it’s just come out of the corner, press the (ride-height) button and twist the throttle, so they’re not climbing all over the bike to keep the front down. These riders are incredibly talented, but we need to show it.

At Phillip Island with Remy Gardner and Mick Doohan in 2022

Marc Marquez has had an amazing 2025, what do you make of his talent?

I think it’s the fact that Marc knows how to ride a bike without all these controls. If you know what’s happening with the bike you can pre-empt it. You know where the bike is going to slide, so you find those spots where you can find grip.

MotoGP introduced Sprint races a few years ago, which some people like and some  hate, what about you?

With the Sprint format there’s no time for riders to get a good set-up for the race because all they’re trying to do is get into the top 10 for Q2. This is the world championship – it shouldn’t be just a little race on Saturday, then a main race on Sunday. It’s like, Sunday is the race! This is the point.

You know you’ve made it when you’re in the Alps with a MotoGP bike

You have a huge amount of knowledge. Do you think MotoGP will ever listen?

I would love to have the opportunity to voice my opinions in closed meetings. I don’t care if they use my ideas or not, but at least I’d like to try to give people the right ideas, because I feel like I’ve been on both sides of the story. I understand MotoGP from an engineer’s point of view, I understand it from the manufacturers’ point of view, I understand it from a fan’s perspective and I understand it very well from being on the bike, so I feel like I’ve got quite a lot to give. We’ll just have to wait and see if we get the call to voice some opinions.