MotoGP in pictures: Two-wheeled F1 is intoxicatingly raw, full of skill, sacrifice and scars

Earlier this year, MotoGP invited ESPN to seizure behind-the-scenes photographs astatine 1 of its grands prix. Austria's stunning Red Bull Ring provided the astir scenic of backdrops, portion the sport's 11 teams offered unprecedented entree to the interior sanctums of their contention weekends.

What we recovered was a racing bid that has retained its intoxicating rawness portion delivering the pinnacle of two-wheel racing to millions of fans astir the world. The on-track enactment blends exceptional endowment with astonishing bravery, portion tight-knit and dedicated teams guarantee the amusement goes connected week aft week.

The full athletics runs affluent connected a heady premix of accomplishment and sacrifice, and arsenic we uncovered, it has the scars to beryllium it.

Media day

The Austrian Grand Prix is the archetypal contention backmost aft MotoGP's summertime break, and a batch of Thursday's media time is spent sharing stories of vacations and formation holidays. Championship person Marc Márquez is 1 of the past riders to get successful the broadcasters' motortruck -- a perfectly lit portable workplace filled with TV crews -- and instantly wins implicit reporters with a beaming smile.

Teams besides marque usage of the much relaxed ambiance earlier the way enactment starts to nutrient societal media contented with riders. Trackhouse teammates Ai Ogura and Raúl Fernández happily play on with the petition of their team, and are amazingly adept astatine utilizing a marker attached to a brace of glasses to gully random objects for each different to identify.

Moped GP

Ahead of the contention weekend, circuit proprietor Red Bull puts retired an unfastened invitation to owners of 50cc mopeds to stitchery and implicit a fewer laps of the track. Joined by the six Red Bull-affiliated riders connected the grid -- including reigning champion Jorge Martín -- hundreds of high-revving mopeds near the starting grid successful a unreality of exhaust fumes to instrumentality portion successful the "Moped GP."

Although not strictly a competitory race, the MotoGP endowment took the accidental to amusement off, with Pedro Acosta taking the prize for the highest wheelie connected his instrumentality to the pits.

The quiescent earlier FP1

"This is 1 of my favourite moments of the weekend," a subordinate of the Ducati Lenovo squad confides arsenic helium walks into the Italian team's container up of archetypal practice, "the moments conscionable earlier the enactment gets underway."

The doors to the pit lane are inactive closed but everything is successful its close place, including 4 immaculately prepared GP25 bikes (two for Márquez and 2 for two-time MotoGP champion Pecco Bagnaia). Relaxed and sharing jokes with unit main Marco Rigamonti, Márquez watches connected from the backmost of the store arsenic mechanics polish the 2 No. 93 bikes and enactment finishing touches successful place.

The on-track enactment begins

Bikes are warmed up connected the pit apron up of each league and past held successful spot acceptable for the rider to equine the spot and deed the track. Each rider has a antithetic regular -- Martín, for example, kneels and makes the motion of the transverse earlier leaving the Aprilia container for each tally -- but erstwhile the visor snaps down, the rider is wholly unsocial with nary squad radio. Traditional pit boards are utilized to awesome to the riders and archer them to instrumentality to the container astatine the extremity of each run.

Working connected the bikes

Between sessions, mechanics disassemble, good tune and reassemble the bikes. No photos are allowed erstwhile the fairings are off, but the velocity and precision of enactment up and down the pit lane is phenomenal to witness. Tire changes are among the astir communal operations conducted by mechanics, but adjacent that requires accelerated dexterity arsenic the 2 beforehand brake discs -- each the size of a ample meal sheet -- are removed and reattached each time.

Debriefing with a legend

Engineering debriefs get underway instantly aft each way session, with the rider inactive sweating successful their leathers arsenic engineers assemblage around. At VR46 Ducati, Fabio Di Giannantonio is joined by squad proprietor and seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi to bounce ideas disconnected of and amended the handling of his GP25.

Rossi, inactive the paddock's astir iconic fig 4 years connected from his last expansive prix, is reliving his acquisition astatine the Red Bull Ring done the feedback of "Diggia." Cross referencing his rider's comments with a expanse of data, helium mimes the question of the motorcycle and its thin space successful each country to assistance the engineers marque the close changes for the adjacent session.

The physicality and the sacrifice

To retrieve from the carnal demands of Friday practice, Di Giannantonio undergoes ...