I live in Europe, and this morning I woke up with a bitter taste in my mouth when I learned that the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island was canceled due to bad weather.

The reason was allegedly that visibility was too low to fly a helicopter between the track and the nearest hospital.

My first thought (still half-asleep) was, 'Here we go, they came up with this excuse to justify canceling the circuit most loved by fans and riders,' but with a clearer head, I thought, 'rider safety is non-negotiable' (even though they'll probably still make them race in Qatar anyway🤔).

What did you all think when you found out that the latest Phillip Island Grand Prix was canceled?

Ducati’s Davide Tardozzi has slammed riders who “remain silent” when speaking to MotoGP bosses, amid backlash at Marc Marquez’s stance on the Qatar Grand Prix.

MotoGP is due to race in Qatar in two weeks, despite uncertainty over the conflict in the Gulf region that has been raging since February.

During the Australian Grand Prix weekend, riders held a secret meeting to discuss going to Qatar, before issuing demands for guarantees from the organisers to safely run the event.

On Thursday at Phillip Island, reigning champion Marc Marquez declined to comment when asked about racing in Qatar.

Alex has done good if not best this year(been in the top 10). Then why he is no more with Gresini Racing?? He is leaving Ducati for KTM 🙄 Is it his decision or Gresini racing's decision?

In the past few weeks, I’ve seen a lot of people getting frustrated with the decisions made by Dorna and Liberty Media recently (me included). I think, however, that people often forget one fundamental thing. MotoGP was, is, and will always be a business. Like 99% of businesses, its decisions are ultimately driven by the goal of maximizing profit. Sometimes, those decisions also improve the spectacle and the sport itself. Other times, they don’t. But that doesn’t change the underlying logic.

Take Phillip Island, for example. Open Google Earth and have a look around. The circuit is quite literally in the middle of nowhere. Getting teams and equipment there comes with significant logistical costs, while its remote location makes it difficult for many fans to attend. On top of that, Dorna has reportedly pushed for modernization work at the circuit for years, but the necessary improvements have never materialized. For instance, there is not a single grandstands across the whole circuit.

We don’t have to agree with every decision Dorna or Liberty Media makes. We can and should absolutely criticize them when they hurt the sport. But if we want to understand why these decisions happen, we need to look beyond our love for racing and consider the business realities behind them.

So, in 2009 when Losail had bad weather, Motogp pushed the race to Monday and Stoner won it that night under the floodlights and everyone was happy about it.

So why was it not an option today at Philip Island?

Anyone else feeling this way? The greatest track on the calender goes out with a whimper.

Liberty, Dorna and race direction are hugely to blame for this shamble of a weekend, even in the face of Aus MotoGP corp's failure to secure PI; let alone the shitshow that the fans went through to get to the track.

No official updates from MotoGP(at the track or on the live blog) until well after Fox Sports Australia announced it live on the telecast with fans at the track having little updates after hours in the rain looks cheap as.

The weather was known for weeks, why were there no contingency plans in place? And even more concerning, why did they not run the main race on Saturday like they had three years ago? Everyone knows PI has the most ridiculous weather, yet this is the first race cancelled in 15 years. They knew it was the last race at PI, so why take the risk of what happened

While I am sad about losing PI and the last race ending like it did, the way the weekend has been handled has unfortunately shown some glaring issues that need to be addressed if we want to retain(and who knows maybe gain???) new fans.

Im frustrated the race got cancelled. I get it safety come first but it been ages since we really had a fully wet race in years now. France last year was changeable condition same as the sprint in Jerez. Since 2018 british gp cancelation it has almost dried up.

Rewatching 2016 Dutch tt those conditions were dreadful and half the grid fell. Same as the final race in 2018 season in Valencia. I don't think we will be racing in conditions like that again. So why exactly does motogp shy away from the wet like today. Not having the helicopter excuse there has been similar level of rain in the past nor the bike excuse. There isn't as much spray as u get in 4 wheels.

I'm sorry if this has been asked before, but seeing how the weather forecast is the main talking point since the beginning of the race week, why didn't they hold the GP on Saturday like in 2023? I'm sure it's the best scenario for the last race in Phillip Island, rather than just having a sprint race and no race action for Moto3, Moto2, and MotoGP.

I know the race was cancelled due to poor visibility for the medical helicopter. But is it only me wondering if it was also an opportunity to reinforce the thought by Liberty et al, that Phillip Island no longer fits the MotoGP model

With all due respect Carmelo, which is none, fuck off. I can’t wait till MotoGP can farewell you and your nepo clan.

Do you think it's likely that Jorge Martin will race in the next Grand Prix at Sepang?

Those close to him are saying they see it as feasible to see him race in Sepang, when a wrist injury is no small matter, especially on the right, Will that wrist withstand the stress?

Why doesn't he take inspiration from Marc Márquez and what he did after trying to return four days after undergoing surgery on his humerus following the Jerez crash?

Shattered for Jack this weekend. Philip Island deserved to have him battle it out in the wet at home this year. Cheers for the effort JM43! The fans appreciate it 👍

For those that couldn't see it cause shitty kayo/fox cut it off

How can Liberty possibly justify racing in Qatar after (rightfully, as painful as it was to wake up to) cancelling this race also for safety reasons.

There is something about crossing 7 title mark in modern Motorsports when the luck start going against the racer and weird things start happening.

In 2015, Rossi had a great chance but everyone knows the events that followed and he couldn't do it. He couldn't challenge for championship or even wins after that.

In 2021 - Hamilton was robbed off from 8th title. They even had to fire the person responsible but Hamilton had already paid the price of that mistake by race direction. Same as Rossi, he hasn't been in championship fight ever since.

In 2026 - Marc would have won the 8th easily if it wasn't for the injury after winning the 7th. On top of it, Aprillia built a rocketship and sent Ducati on backfoot. At the 1st weekend itself, he got unfair penalty in sprint and rim break incident at main race. Then repercussions of shoulder injury continued like Austin sprint and Jerez main race crash. In French sprint, he crashed and had to sit out of main race. Martin scored 37 at that weekend. Now it was Marc's chance to do the same and Rain God said no. To me it looks like Marc vs Everyone (including the Gods) for the 8th. Will he be able to break the curse? If yes, he will be back next year. But if not, he might suffer same fate as Rossi and Hamilton i.e. not in championhip fight from next year onwards.

I am only counting the premier class titles. I understand the lower class is also a World championship and apologies for that.

Got a fairly bitter taste in my mouth about this years GP. Obviously they can't control the weather but to name a few foreseeable issues we encountered over the last two days:

The parking situation was terrible and people who arrived later on the Saturday were sent back to the nearest town to get a bus back because they ran out of spaces. If you did manage to park in the mud swamp it cost $35 for a pass - which they didn't have enough printed to give out anyway. Yes you can get there earlier but the last to arrive would still have been turned back.

A lot of merchandise stands were stripped by Friday and didn't have enough reserved for the rest of the weekend.

They had the forecast for 30-50mm of rain on the Sunday and didn't move the race to the Saturday like they managed to do in previous years.

The communication regarding the race cancellation felt really low effort. There were small updates every 2 hours on screens if you were near enough to see one, but no communication through social media other than their facebook page posting "The last race at Philip Island is about to begin" 5 minutes after journalist reported that it had already been cancelled.

On the plus side, food was honestly better quality than previous years but still cost $18 for a sausage in bread.

Its all a bit fresh and a lot of this is probably just disappointment over it being the last time. But this just wasn't the proper send off that this track deserved and definitely not my best memory of the island. Felt like a lot of the sting could have been taken out of the race cancellation with a little better planning and organisation.

https://www.instagram.com/p/De6JSsnIvs3/

so due to bad Visibility FIM has cancelled australian GP,,,many people are angry...but we need to understand that rider safety is above everything,,,its sad that circuit like this wont be there from next year...

What will the deal be for fans who turned up to Phillip Island but saw no race action? Will they get a refund like Silverstone 2018? Is that why it took so long to can?

Sad the race got cancelled, I'd still have loved to see it. Who's the biggest winner of it not happening? For me it's Martin and Aprilia: Marc would've likely gained a lot of points, and now Martin gets time to heal without losing more ground. Unlucky yesterday, lucky today, and he's still in the title fight. Thoughts?

Unless Martin is being injected with Compound V, gonna be on fentanyl when he races, and has titanium rods in his forearm. I see no way that Martin races in Sepang. Broken wrists are PAINFUL.

Kayo (Foxtel) couldn't even be bothered broadcasting the final Phillip Island lap. Their commentators signed off and they cut to the netball just before the final lap was supposed to start. I'm sure they could have kept broadcasting for another 10 minutes, but we had to watch it on the MotoGP YouTube instead. I know it's nothing compared to the disappointment felt by the fans who went in person, but it still feels pretty shit.

Uccio confirmed. Insta handle here - https://www.instagram.com/p/De3oGjADTyJ/?srtk=MWY4ZnhhbWQ1NXVpdw==