2020 MotoGP World Championship

The 2020 FIM MotoGP World Championship was the premier class of the 72nd F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season.
The season was notably characterized by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the absence of perennial title favourite and defending champion Marc Márquez due to a serious arm injury, the high number of wins from different riders, teams and constructors, and the Yamaha engine controversy.
Joan Mir secured his maiden MotoGP title and Team Suzuki Ecstar secured their first and only team championship at the penultimate round. Mir's championship was the first for a Suzuki rider since 2000. Mir won the title by 13 points ahead of Franco Morbidelli. Ducati won the constructors' championship following a 50-point deduction for Yamaha, despite having no riders in the championship's top three.
Marc Márquez and Repsol Honda Team started the season as the defending World Champion and World Constructors' champions respectively, after they both won their championships in 2019 for the fourth consecutive season. After an opening round crash resulting in a fractured humerus, and an aborted return attempt the following week, Márquez sat out the remainder of the season, meaning he could not win the title for a fifth consecutive time. Former premier class world champion Valentino Rossi had a career-low season, finishing the championship outside of the top 7 for the first time in his career, ending 15th.
By mid-November, Joan Mir secured the riders' title with one win and seven podiums and Team Suzuki Ecstar clinched the teams' championship. Ducati took the constructors' championship in the final round in Portugal, helped by the 50-point penalty handed to Yamaha earlier in the season. This was Ducati's first constructors' title since Casey Stoner's dominant 2007 season.
Riders Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder, Miguel Oliveira, Franco Morbidelli and Joan Mir won their first premier class victories during the season and KTM took their first wins as a constructor. Five riders taking their inaugural victories in the season surpassed the record set in the 2016 season. In addition, three teams (Petronas SRT, KTM Factory Racing and Tech3, respectively) won their first races in the premier class. Between the Czech Republic and Aragon Grands Prix, different riders won in eight successive races, equalling the previous record set between the 2016 Italian and San Marino Grands Prix. A total of 9 different riders won a race in the season, also matching the record set in 2016. Morbidelli and Quartararo won three races each, Oliveira two, with Binder, Andrea Dovizioso, Maverick Viñales, Danilo Petrucci, Álex Rins and champion Mir (in chronological order) each having won a single race.
When Joan Mir secured the riders' championship title, he became the first Suzuki rider to win the title since Kenny Roberts Jr. in 2000, the first non-Honda or non-Yamaha rider to win the title since Ducati rider Casey Stoner in 2007, as well as the first Moto3 world champion to win the premier class title.
The season calendar was significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the cancellation or postponement of many races and an overall delay to the start of the season. On 11 June, the rescheduled calendar was confirmed, with the season beginning on 19 July with the Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez. On 31 July, the FIM announced that the remaining flyaway races were to be cancelled, marking the first time since 1986 that the premier class was held entirely within Europe. With a total of only 14 rounds, it was the shortest season of 500cc/MotoGP since 1998.
Before the European Grand Prix in Valencia, Yamaha and its teams were handed penalties for disregarding the protocol which requires obtaining unanimous approval from the Motorcycle Sport Manufacturers Association (MSMA) for engine technical changes. Yamaha allegedly changed the specification of engine valves between the homologation freeze just before the abandoned Qatar round and the opening round in Jerez, claiming "an internal oversight". As a result, Yamaha was docked 50 points in the manufacturers' championship and the Yamaha factory team and Petronas SRT lost 20 and 37 points respectively, equal to the points scored using the non-compliant engines. No penalty was applied to individual riders' points totals. Yamaha made an official statement accepting the FIM's sanctions and confirmed it would not appeal the decision.
All teams used series-specified Michelin tyres.
The following Grands Prix took place in 2020:
The following rounds were included on the original calendar, but were cancelled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
The season calendar was significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the cancellation or postponement of many races and an overall delay to the start of the season.
Points were awarded to the top fifteen finishers. A rider had to finish the race to earn points.
Each constructor received the same number of points as their best placed rider in each race.
The teams' standings were based on results obtained by regular and substitute riders.