Le 2021 MotoGP calendar plans to resume activities in a little over a month, in this case on February 14 for the shakedown in Sepang.
This three-day warm-up reserved for Aprilia pilots (who benefit from concessions), test pilots from each manufacturer as well as rookies such as Enea Bastianini, Luca Marini and Jorge Martin, will precede the official test also by three days for the titular drivers, from the 19th to the 21st of the same month.
Uncertainty has long hovered over these tests pre-season due to the health situation in Malaysia which currently requires prior authorization and a quarantine period of at least seven days for foreigners
The last few weeks have seen incessant negotiations between the country's authorities and Dorna, in order to guarantee the smooth running of these tests in the best possible conditions for both parties.
Today, even if absolute 100% certainty is still not required, we can quantify it at more than 90% and, according to our information, we are moving towards the following solution.
There will be no quarantine period for the Grand Prix world. In return, they will live in complete self-sufficiency and must have a negative PCR test less than 48 or 72 hours old (subject still under negotiation) before taking the plane to Kuala Lumpur.
Once arriving at the Malaysian airport, each staff member will be required to undergo a new PCR test and, while awaiting the result, will have to remain confined for a few hours in their room at the airport.Sama-Sama hotel located in the airport complex (be careful not to eat a “big steak” there, you never know...).
The next days, paddock members will travel to the circuit, located just on the other side of the airport runways, using collective shuttles.
Usually, Grand Prix staff have rental cars and can possibly do a little sightseeing in the evening. For the moment, this is not what is planned in view of the current health situation, even if things could obviously evolve in one direction or the other depending on the evolution of the latter.
Everything is therefore in place for the tests to take place normally, especially since the containers containing the large equipment have already left in December, taking the teams' equipment, tires and gasoline by sea.
Most motorcycles will travel by plane at the beginning of February.
Monitoring the live tests, Petronas SRT presentation, etc., we will obviously come back to the subject, even if, like last year, the journalists will not be directly present in the paddock…
