2021 MotoGP World Championship

The 2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship was the premier class of the 73rd F.I.M. Road Racing World Championship season. Fabio Quartararo won his first world title, with five race wins ahead of securing the title in the third last race of the season. Quartararo became the first ever Frenchman to win the premier class title, which was also the first title for a non-Spanish rider since Australian Casey Stoner in 2011. The season also saw Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martín win their first premier class races. In the overall standings, Bagnaia secured second place and reigning champion Joan Mir secured third place, while Martín was named rookie of the year. Ducati secured the constructors' championship for the second consecutive season and the teams' championship for the first time since 2007. In total, eight different riders won Grands Prix during the season.
Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Márquez returned at the third race of the year after his arm and shoulder injury which had sidelined him from the 2020 season. Having initially struggled with the injury, the former champion won three races from summer onwards. It was also the final season of seven-time MotoGP title winner Valentino Rossi after 22 seasons in the premier class, as well as the final season in which a 500cc-era debutant participated in the premier class.
Joan Mir and Team Suzuki Ecstar began the season as defending riders' and teams' champions, respectively, while Ducati started as defending constructors' champion. Ducati and Yamaha became early season favourites after winning all of the first five races of the season (rounds 1-3 for Yamaha riders Maverick Viñales and Fabio Quartararo, rounds 4-5 for Ducati rider Jack Miller) and locking out all but one of the 15 podium positions between them. Perennial title favourite Marc Márquez made his return to the series at the third round in Portugal, after missing nearly the entirety of the 2020 season as well as the first two rounds in Qatar due to recovering from an injury.
By the sixth round in Italy, Quartararo became the first clear title favourite of the season after four consecutive pole positions and achieving his third win of the season, extending his championship lead to 24 points. Miguel Oliveira won the Catalan round during a three-race podium streak. At the German Grand Prix, Marc Márquez made his first return to the podium since the 2019 Valencian Grand Prix with a win, extending his unbroken streak of victories at the Sachsenring to 11 in a row, dating back to 2010 in the 125cc class. With his victory, Márquez ended Honda's longest win drought since their full-time return to the pinnacle of Grand Prix racing in 1982 at 581 days. At the Dutch TT, Quartararo claimed his fourth win of the season, extending his lead in the riders' championship heading into the summer break, with a 34-point-advantage over his nearest rival and compatriot Johann Zarco.
Returning from the summer pause in Styria, rookie Jorge Martín translated his second career pole position into his maiden race win in just his sixth MotoGP race start, and claimed the first victory for Pramac Racing since their entry to the class in 2002. During the pre-event press conference, Valentino Rossi announced his retirement after 26 years on the Grand Prix circuit, effective at the end of the season. At the Austrian Grand Prix, KTM rider Brad Binder took his second career victory in a flag-to-flag race in the rain, after electing to stay out on slicks with three laps remaining, while the other five riders of the lead group entered the pits to switch to wet tyres. At an unseasonably cold British round, Quartararo took a dominant win while his nearest rivals faltered, extending his championship lead to 65 points with six rounds remaining. Silverstone also marked the first career MotoGP podium finish for Aleix Espargaró and the first podium for Aprilia as a manufacturer in the modern MotoGP era.
In Aragon, Ducati factory rider Francesco Bagnaia led from pole position to take his inaugural MotoGP victory and shortened Quartararo's championship advantage as the Frenchman struggled with tyres, dropping from third on the grid to finish eighth. At Misano, Bagnaia repeated his feat to win from pole for the second consecutive race, cutting the Frenchman's lead to just 48 points with four rounds remaining. In Austin, Marc Marquéz topped the podium for the second time of the year, ahead of chief title contenders Quartararo and pole-sitter Bagnaia. With the win, Marquéz extended his dominance over the Circuit of the Americas, having won 7 of 8 total MotoGP visits to the track.
At the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, Bagnaia started from pole for the fourth consecutive race, while Quartararo started from 15th position after a difficult qualifying session. While Quartararo fought his way back into the top five, Bagnaia crashed from the lead with four laps remaining, gifting Marquéz his third win of the season. Ultimately finishing the race in fourth after a last-lap pass by Enea Bastianini, Quartararo was crowned the 2021 MotoGP World Champion. Quartararo became the first ever Frenchman to win the premier class title, as well the first non-Spanish champion for a decade, since Australian Casey Stoner in 2011.
With Márquez missing the Algarve Grand Prix from a concussion sustained in a training incident, his winning streak ended. Bagnaia led from pole position to claim his third win of the season. After Quartararo crashed out of sixth position, Ducati secured the constructors' title. The race ended with a red flag after a collision between Iker Lecuona and Miguel Oliveira. Bagnaia achieved his fourth victory of the season at the Valencian finale ahead of Martín and Miller in Ducati's first-ever podium lock-out, securing the team's championship for the Ducati factory team for the first time since 2007.
In total, eight different riders won Grands Prix during the season, and fifteen different riders made it onto the podium.
As with the previous season, the 2021 championship was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the cancellation or postponement of many races. As it became clear local pandemic conditions would not allow for a running of the Argentine or American Grands Prix as planned, both races were postponed and replaced with a second round in Qatar and a round in Portugal. The return of the Finnish Grand Prix was delayed by a further year, as Finnish race officials did not wish to hold their inaugural event without fans in the grandstands, and the race was replaced with a second round in Austria. The Japanese Grand Prix was cancelled due to the ongoing pandemic situation in the country and the resulting travel complications and logistical restrictions, and was replaced by the new date for the American Grand Prix. The Australian Grand Prix was cancelled in early July, due to the paddock's inability to meet the Australian government's requirement for a two-week quarantine for all foreign entries to the country, which would introduce too large of a disturbance to the MotoGP schedule. With a mid-summer resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Thailand, its Grand Prix, planned for mid-October, was also cancelled for the second year in a row. By mid-August, the rising number of infections in Malaysia caused the cancellation of the Grand Prix in that country (replaced by a second round at the Misano circuit), meaning no championship rounds would be held east of Qatar for the second consecutive year.
All teams used series-specified Michelin tyres.
The following Grands Prix took place in 2021:
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; wild-card entries were ineligible.