Toprak Razgatlioglu crashed in Mandalika during FP2 and injured his shoulder. After an extra examination in Milan after returning from the Indonesian GP, injuries were discovered that led him to undergo surgery. As a consequence of this, it has been confirmed not only that Toprak will not be in Australia this weekend, but that he will miss the five remaining Grands Prix of the 2026 season.
There is no doubt that Razgatlioglu’s untimely injury is a new setback for the Turk. But going a little further, what draws attention is that with his injury there are now a total of 8 drivers who are going to miss a GP due to injury so far this season. We are talking about Marc and Álex Márquez, Johann Zarco, Fermín Aldeguer, Marco Bezzecchi, Maverick Viñales and Ai Ogura, who are now joined by the Turk.
In these casualties we do not include that of Joan Mir, of whom there are still no updates on his physical condition but which, in principle, has nothing to do with injuries. We are therefore talking about 36.3% of the grid having missed at least one GP due to injury this year and, in addition, there are other drivers who have not missed races but have participated in recent operations, either due to traumatic injury or, for example, compartment syndrome.
More races, more injuries, what options can there be?
This is exactly the situation that some drivers have been pointing out for some time, in a calendar that has 22 competition weekends and, therefore, 44 races and 110 training sessions (counting QP1 and QP2 only as one). That is, in percentage terms the risk of suffering an injury will be the same or even lower than in the past due to advances in safety, but more time on the track increases the probabilities.
However, we will have to wait until the end of the season to know the final numbers, which we hope will not increase over these weekends, but it is evident that the situation is complex and that is why Liberty thought about the figure of the third driver. For now the reserve drivers are having extra work this year and all brands have had to pull them at some point.
Also, although for the fan it would be more complicated to understand and would disrupt plans, a discard system could be studied as was the case in the past, although that, on the other hand, would detract from the regularity, which is exactly what a championship measures.
