The 2024 MotoGP season has been spectacular. The title was decided in the last race of the year with two drivers with real options, and all thanks to a scoring system that rewards those who are more consistent. There is no doubt that this system, which has been in force since the early 90s, seeks precisely to reward both speed and regularity.
Thanks to this combination, we have seen in 2024 how Jorge Martín won the title despite having only three GP victories. Or rather, we have seen how despite winning 11 GP Pecco Bagnaia, he could not win the title because he did not have that consistency that the Spaniard has had.
Also, in the past, we have even seen how Emilio Alzamora won at 125 without achieving a single victory, as Champi Herreros also achieved at 80. But now it is Crash.net who has begun to “shake the hornet’s nest” and has opened a debate that It is, to say the least, interesting.
This does not mean that Jorge Martín is not worthy of his title, nothing could be further from the truth. The Madrid native, who for many lost the 2023 championship due to his lack of consistency, has learned what was needed to win it, which is to add the greatest number of points possible each weekend and that to do so it is necessary not to make mistakes.
The scoring system has a great enemy: excessive runs
But if we get to the bottom of the matter there are two realities: with so many points at stake, neither the victories are so important nor the mistakes so defining. That is to say, although we are questioning how to make victories have more weight, perhaps in this approach we are ignoring the fact that errors also have more weight.
Because while it is true that Bagnaia has achieved 11 victories on Sundays, it is equally true that he has not scored between Sprint and GP in a total of 8 races (5 Sprint and 3 GP). Meanwhile, Jorge Martín only has 4 zeros, two in Sprint and 2 in GP.
That is why one of the things that arises in the debate is whether the fastest laps, the poles, or achieving pole and victory in both races, could give some extra points. They are interesting points of view, such as the discarding of some result during the season, although the latter would be more complex for the viewer.
Perhaps what should be done is to rethink the current points system, and make the difference per position really more important. Or that only the first 10 scored, again.
Even so, the reality is that in a championship with more than 40 races there are so many points at stake that both errors and victories are diluted, so it is not an easy task. And you, what do you think?
