The two-time world champion made a rare cameo at the Grand Prix of Austria as a guest of Ducati, and took time to speak about the state of the sport before Sunday’s race.
Stoner, who won the 2007 and 2011 premier class titles with Ducati and Honda respectively, said the bikes have become less about the rider and more about the engineers.
It comes as new anti-highside software is being trialled at the Red Bull Ring in an apparent safety bid.
The natural consequence of the stability control system it is a bike that is easier to ride.
“Right now, we’re making champions out of engineers,” said Stoner.
“We’re not making champions out of riders, and we’re going into an era of all the mistakes that Formula 1 made.
“We’ve had all these examples in the past of these things not working, yet we’re just following in all of the directions of every issue that Formula 1 has spent years getting rid of.
“This weekend, they’ve brought a whole other level of electronics.
“Speaking to the riders, you can literally go and twist the throttle. You’ve got nearly 300 horsepower and you can twist the throttle and nothing happens.
“You’ve got the best riders in the world riding the easiest bikes to ride in the world, and I don’t see this as being anything that I’m interested in.”
Stoner was famous for his riding style, which often saw him wagging the tail of his MotoGP bike.
The modern bikes no longer allow for that, said the Australian.
“You have no more control over how much slide you have,” he said.
“Already when I was testing, just before I stopped, I wasn’t allowed to use any more of the clutch going into the corner because it confused the system.
“So there’s no more element of skill with every aspect. You literally just have to brake hard, get it into the corner, and then… all the guys are talking about how now they can just literally twist the throttle, press a button [that] drops it down. There’s just too much going on.”
The current MotoGP bikes have several electronic aids, including anti-wheelie, a system that makes the bike squat out of the corner for better traction.
The knock-on effect of having no risk of a mid-corner highside is that the front end is pushed to the extreme, heightening the chance of a lowside.
“I don’t see it as being safer,” he said of the anti-highside technology.
“If you take all of the control out of the rear of the bike, you lose any fear of the bike. And then you just start to push harder and harder in one aspect, which is the front end.
“Then if you lose the front end, so often it comes back onto the track. And we’ve seen catastrophic accidents when you lose the front end of the bike and it comes back.
“So the more safe you make the rear, the worse it’s going to be on the front. And then we’re going to see worse things again.
“Also, your top speed at the end of the straight gets faster again. The margin for error in braking points is tiny, and then you have everybody absolutely on the limit in this area.”
The discussion comes ahead of MotoGP adopting new rules for 2027 that will ban ride height and holeshot devices.
Winglets will be reduced and engines will drop from 1000cc to 850cc, decreasing the top speed of the bikes.
The changes are designed to make MotoGP safer and more sustainable. However, Stoner said the moves don’t make sense to him.
“You’re making a bike lighter, so then the braking point becomes less. You’re actually going to be slower at the top speed because they don’t have this ride-height device now,” he explained.
“So it’s going to be less top speed [with a] lighter bike. Hoing into the corner, braking points are shorter, with less opportunity for overtaking.
“They’re still [going to have] winglets and they’re going to be carrying probably higher corner speeds as well. So that’s going to create turbulent air on a lighter bike.
“They’re still going to be having stability issues. They’re still going to be having tyre temperature issues.
“We were talking not too many years ago [MotoGP] struggling with costs and trying to cost-cut and all these sorts of things.
“[Aero] is certainly not making it better. [Aero] is the most expensive thing that you can do.
“I just don’t know how nobody can see the problems. Each step they do in this direction is making it go in the wrong way.”
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