Hopes that the global vaccine roll out would allow a return to a normal championship, spread across five continents, were soon dashed. The Japanese, Malaysian, Australian and Argentine GPs were all cancelled, while the Grand Prix of the Americas was postponed for six months. Yet 2021 was a huge improvement on 2020, with crowds back from mid-season.
What those fans witnessed was a generational shift. Frenchman Fabio Quartararo won the MotoGP crown aged 22, runner-up was 24-year-old Pecco Bagnaia and third was last year’s champion Joan Mir, also 24.