The 2023 season was marked by the introduction of Sprint races, a format that is still not unanimous. The Saturday races have half the distance and award half the points of the long races on Sunday, and were contested in all Grand Prix except in Australia due to weather conditions. What would the championship have been like if only the Sprints counted?
No surprise, Jorge Martín scored the most points in the Sprint races. The Prima Pramac rider won nine times and always scored (he was the only one to do so), totaling 168 points. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) was the champion, but only with the Sprint races he would have finished second with 140 points. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) follows with 109 points earned on Saturdays.
Miguel Oliveira scored 14 points in the Sprint races and in this classification would be 14th (he was 16th in the World Championship). There were 21 riders scoring points in the Sprint races, with the 21st being Raúl Fernández (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) registering only one point. Among the riders who started in the pack, only Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) and Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) did not score in the Sprint races.
MotoGP World Championship standings with Sprint races only:
1st Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac Racing/Ducati): 168 points2nd Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team): 140 points3rd Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): 109 points4th Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati): 87 points5th Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati): 54 points6th Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing): 54 points7th Álex Márquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP/Ducati): 50 points8th Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia Racing): 48 points9th Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): 47 points10th Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team): 38 points11th Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing/Ducati): 37 points12th Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP/Ducati): 19 points13th Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team): 19 points14th Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia): 14 points15th Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team): 13 points16th Dani Pedrosa (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): 10 points17th Álex Rins (LCR Honda Castrol): 9 points18th Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha Team): 7 points19th Pol Espargaró (GasGas Factory Racing Tech3/KTM): 4 points20th Augusto Fernández (GasGas Factory Racing Tech3/KTM): 3 points21st Raúl Fernández (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia): 1 pointDid not score in Sprint racesÁlvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) – wildcardCal Crutchlow (Yamalube RS4GP Racing Team) – wildcardDanilo Petrucci (Ducati Lenovo Team) – replacement riderJoan Mir (Repsol Honda Team)Jonas Folger (GasGas Factory Racing Tech3/KTM) – replacement riderIker Lecuona (LCR Honda Castrol and Repsol Honda Team) – replacement riderLorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing and CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) – wildcard/replacement riderMichele Pirro (Aruba.it Ducati and Ducati Lenovo Team) – wildcard/replacement riderStefan Bradl (HRC Team, LCR Honda Castrol and Repsol Honda Team) – wildcard/replacement riderTakaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu)Takumi Takahashi (LCR Honda Castrol) – replacement rider
