The final seasonal round on the Asian continent for MotoGP. There have been 22 editions of the Qatar GP, although MotoGP has taken to the track 21 times, missing 2020 due to the pandemic.
However, this is only the second time it has been held in November: the previous occasion was in 2023, when it was the penultimate GP of the season, whereas this time it is the third-to-last.
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The GP data
According to Brembo engineers, who for the 11th consecutive year have been working closely with all the MotoGP teams, the 5.38 km-long Lusail International Circuit falls into the category of circuits that are moderately demanding on brakes. On a scale of 1 to 6, it has earned a difficulty index of 3 despite 11 braking sections per lap for a total of 34 seconds: 3 braking sections are classified as High, 4 Medium and 4 Low.
The hardest corner
The hardest corner for the braking system at the Lusail International Circuit is Turn 1, due to the 1.068 km straight that precedes it: MotoGP bikes go from 337 km/h down to 99 km/h thanks to a 4.9-second braking phase during which the bikes cover 259 metres. To execute it, the riders apply a load of 5.6 kg to the Brembo brake lever, undergoing a deceleration of 1.5 g while the braking system pressure reaches 12.1 bar and the disc temperature exceeds 550 °C.
Will it be a draw?
There have been 22 MotoGP GPs held at the Lusail International Circuit because in 2021 it also hosted the Doha GP. Yamaha has 10 wins and this year Ducati could match that total, while the remaining 3 races were won by Honda. What is more, the Borgo Panigale manufacturer has won the last 4 editions with 4 different riders: Enea Bastianini in 2022, Fabio Di Giannantonio in 2023, Francesco Bagnaia in 2024 and Marc Marquez in 2025. Needless to say, all 22 of these GPs were won by bikes equipped with Brembo brakes.
Incandescent discs
The MotoGP race start at 8 p.m. local time makes it possible, under the hardest braking, to admire the redness around the circumference of the Brembo carbon discs. It is the result of the discs becoming incandescent, although their temperatures are no different from those reached on other tracks. What makes the difference is the absence of sunlight, which shifts the emission spectrum toward shorter wavelengths, bringing it into the spectrum visible to the human eye.
The revolution of 10 years ago
The 2016 Qatar GP was the first in history in which all MotoGP riders on track used Brembo brakes. That year, riders could choose between two different aluminium calipers: the light duty, designed and optimised for use with standard pads, and the heavy duty, conceived for use with high mass pads. Also in 2016, MotoGP bikes stopped using aluminium-lithium calipers because they had been banned by the regulations.