Who crashed most often in MotoGP?

Falling is part of a pilot's daily life MotoGP (or Moto2 and Moto3). While there are some who manage to play with the limit without crossing it, others, however, exceed it very (too) often.

Since 2010, more than 11300 falls have been recorded in the three categories, almost 2700 in MotoGP alone. Fortunately, the driver's equipment helps prevent the most serious injuries and since 2018, the airbag has been compulsory in Grands Prix. Unlike a car airbag which is triggered at the moment of impact, on a motorcycle it is a complex system full of algorithms and sensors that deploy the bag before the rider even hits the ground.

The moment which decided the 2021 #MotoGP World Championship! 🏆@PeccoBagnaia hopes evaporated with a crash late on! 💢#EmiliaRomagnaGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/7vnizI03U6

- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) October 24, 2021

This season, Iker Lecuona was the one who fell most often with 26 antics on the clock. The Spaniard is ahead of his compatriot Marc Marquez who has fallen 22 times. Let us remember, however, that the eight-time world champion missed the first two and the last two meetings on the calendar. He therefore made mistakes more than 1.5 times on average in the 14 events in which he participated. Since his debut in 125cc in 2008, the Catalan has crashed on 208 occasions. In 220 starts, we can say that he fell at least once almost every weekend. He has rarely been injured, but more serious falls have immobilized him for a certain time, like Malaysia 2011 (eye injury) or Spain 2020 (arm injury).

Is the Honda's fault?

Behind Marquez stands his teammate Pol Espargaro (20 falls), his brother Alex (19) and Aleix Espargaro (18). Of the 278 crashes recorded in MotoGP this year, 75 are to the credit of the five Honda riders (M. Marquez, A. Marquez, P. Espargaro, Takaaki Nakagami and Stefan Bradl). It's no secret, the RC213V is a complicated machine to tame and with its handlebars, finding the limit is very often difficult.

For comparison, Ducati has 72 crashes for eight riders (adding Michele Pirro and Tito Rabat). At Yamaha, the eight riders (including substitutes) of the Iwata firm have a total of 25 antics. With two representatives, Suzuki for his part accumulated 20 falls (8 for Joan Mir and 12 for Alex Rins).

French side, fabio quartararo is the one who fell the least with seven falls in total (including only one in a race in the Algarve) compared to 10 for Johann Zarco (including 3 in races in Portugal, Austria and Austin).

The Dunlop chicane is not forgiving

The French GP holds the prize for the greatest number of crashes with 118 in total over the three days. The Bugatti Le Mans circuit has been leading the way since 2019. It is the Dunlop chicane which has proven particularly treacherous for the drivers of the three categories since no less than 37 falls have been counted at turn no. 3 alone. Note that since 2015 , the record for falls over the same weekend is held by the Valencia circuit in 2018 with 155 units on the clock (that weekend, it hardly stopped raining...).

Behind this famous chicane, we find the first corner of the Sachsenring with 22 falls alone (out of the 57 during the GP). Out of 13 curves on the German route, there are only three that turn right, including this first turn which can be particularly tricky to negotiate for both the drivers and the tires.