Moto GP and F1 are two of the most followed motorsports all over the globe. Both have their separate fanbases and the way of doing things during grand prix weekends is also very different. The late. Ayrton Senna‘s teammate, Gerhard Berger , believes that the Moto GP riders are way tougher in comparison to F1 drivers.
Berger is of the opinion that in F1, things have to be perfect for a driver to get the most out of his machinery, but in Moto GP, things are quite the opposite.
While talking about the same in a detailed interview with Auto Motor Und Sport, he said, as reported by racingnews365:
MotoGP is much more brutal and in it, people are much more down to earth. F1 is much more distant in that respect. If an F1 driver sprains his finger, doctors and physiotherapists immediately swoop in and it's immediately a whole story. In MotoGP, on the other hand, someone breaks his shoulder in the morning and then just gets back on the bike in the afternoon. That's also how we envision superheroes.
Looking at the reaction of the 64-year-old, it is quite clear that, he firmly thinks that the Moto GP riders are quite fearless. However, in the case of F1, the drivers are put on a pedestal and even if a slight injury occurs to any one of them, a huge deal is made out of it by the teams and the media.
Moto GP riders are more prone to severe mishaps
While Gerhard Berger has admitted that the Moto GP riders are nothing short of superheroes, he is quite right in his assessment, considering certain factors. In F1, drivers are protected in several ways during Grand Prix weekends.
However, in the case of Moto GP, the level of rider safety is not as high. On two-wheelers, if a crash takes place, the riders go flying off of their bikes and this leads to various kinds of severe injuries. For example, one can look at the Roman Grosjean high-speed crash during the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Despite being surrounded by a bowl of fire, he was still able to walk away with just some minor/major burns on his body. Had that kind of an incident happened during a Moto GP race, the rider would probably not have been able to make out of it alive, because of the various kinds of differences in the two sports.
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