The verdict on MotoGP’s new steward after opening races

The start to the new MotoGP season has also seen a new era of stewarding begin, as ex-racer and TV pundit Simon Crafar takes on the role as head FIM steward.

MotoGP stewarding has come in for a lot of flak in recent years under double 500cc world champion Freddie Spencer’s leadership.

Consistency of penalty calls was one of the biggest complaints, as was a lack of transparency.

Coming into 2025, Crafar has a tough task on his hands to rebuild faith in the stewarding process while also ensuring the FIM rulebook is followed.

But after two rounds, the verdict on Crafar’s stewarding has been overwhelmingly positive.

“Marco Bezzecchi got an official warning, which seems like a sensible move I think because he didn’t bring any other riders down,” Crash MotoGP Editor Peter McLaren began in the latest Crash MotoGP Podcast.

“He did affect Fabio Quartararo’s race, but he didn’t destroy it because Quartararo in the end got a couple of points.

“But in the end, he did make contact with another rider, he did make a mistake.

“So, I think an official warning for a first offence [is good]. Presumably if there is a carbon copy incident then he would get a penalty next time, which is fair enough.

“I thought it was interesting to see that. Where it becomes a harder call with these first offences is when it’s a bigger incident, when other riders get brought down.

“So if you’re in another team you’d say ‘it was my riders first offence, same as Bez, right?’

“So that’s when it becomes difficult in the future with these things, but there’s never any easy answer for first-corner incidents. Bez held his hands up, first offence so official warning, which I think is fair enough.”

It is understood that a more serious first offence would skip the warning process and go straight to a penalty, while the overall aim is to reduce repeat offences by ramping up the punishments.

In other words, everyone can make a mistake, but you can't keep making the same mistake. So a warning would be followed by a long lap penalty and then a ride-through if a rider keeps making the same errors.

Crash Senior Journalist Lewis Duncan echoed McLaren’s thoughts, while noting one area Crafar’s stewarding could excel over his predecessor.

“Interesting on the first offence thing,” Duncan said.

“I think the stewarding for the most part to begin the Simon Crafar era as head steward has been pretty spot on.

“I think, yes ok Freddie Spencer was an ex-racer, but I think Simon Crafar being a bit more recent of an ex-racer - let’s say - but someone who continues to ride bikes fairly in anger.

“He does all of his BMW laps [at race weekends], so he’s quite fresh, he understands what the circuits are like every weekend.

“And being a TV pundit for all these years he understands the riders, he understands the racing situation, he understands the development of the bikes.

“There does seem to be a much more bigger picture approach to stewarding now, which I think is good. Let’s hope that continues.

“I think the first offence thing is an interesting one, but I guess the way to look at it is Bez ruined his own race, took himself out.

“Yes, he compromised Quartararo but that was a Turn 1 racing incident. Had he wiped out Fabio and a couple of others, that would have been a first offence - but a more serious offence.

“And that seems to be the way they’re going. If you look at the Morbidelli incident with Binder in the sprint was a clear-cut race incident and that’s what it was deemed.

“They were very proper when it came to giving [Franco] Morbidelli a penalty for getting in the way of [Pecco] Bagnaia in Thailand.

“[David] Munoz had a pretty stupid incident in Thailand and they gave him a pretty hard penalty to reflect that.

“It does seem like the stewarding is assessing penalties in a much better way that there is an actual clear punishment there rather than something innocuous the rider can brush off.

“I don’t think anyone thought Crafar wouldn’t do a good job, but they’ve had a lot of varied incidents and the calls I think have been spot on.

“The thing I would hope with Crafar, which we didn’t get with Spencer, was coming out on camera and giving an explanation [of a penalty].

“But Crafar being a TV guy, being comfortable in front of cameras, hopefully when there is an incident like that he can come out and say ‘ok, here’s why it’s a penalty’.

“I think there’s a lot of really positive things coming out here and it’s been long-needed.”