How Formula 1 has driven MotoGP's changing nature

The hiring of technicians from Formula 1 has clearly contributed to a recent change in the MotoGP landscape, with the role of engineers gaining greater significance relative to the riders. Here's how this shift has come about.

The last great contribution of Japanese manufacturers to top-level MotoGP competition was the seamless gearbox, introduced by Honda in 2011. At the time, it was a groundbreaking innovation in MotoGP. But the system, which allowed seamless shifting, had been used in Formula 1 for years and HRC engineers simply adapted it to the bikes.

Before the end of that same year, Ducati had managed to copy and incorporate the seamless system, although needed more than a year to perfect the change. Yamaha didn't have it until 2013, while the rest of the manufacturers could not finish developing it until two years later.