Both Formula 1 cars and MotoGP bikes are massively impressive racing vehicles which are insane to watch in real life just to see the sheer speed. But what about when you pit the two head to head – which is faster? Is it the four wheeled F1 cars or the two wheeled MotoGP bikes?

MotoGP bikes are typically 20-30 seconds slower per lap than F1 cars depending on the circuit. MotoGP bikes have faster acceleration and top speed, but F1 cars have much faster cornering speeds due to superior aerodynamics and mechanical grip, leading to lower overall lap times.

In other words, despite both vehicles featuring massively advanced and expensive technology, the F1 car wins out in terms of pure overall lap time, although each vehicle has it’s own strengths and weaknesses that we’ll examine in more detail below.

The Speed Differences Between MotoGP Bikes & F1 Cars Explained

Despite F1 cars being overall faster than MotoGP bikes, each vehicle is actually stronger in different parts of any circuit. Let’s break down the different aspects of each to see why.

Engine Power – MotoGP bike engines produce around 200-240 brake horsepower and run at 8,750 to 12,250 rpm, which is impressive in itself. However, modern F1 cars are on a different level for pure engine power, producing between 750 to 1050 bhp and revving at no more than 15,000 rpm.

Acceleration/Top Speed – However, despite the more impressive outright engine power stats for F1 cars, MotoGP bikes actually have faster acceleration and top speed. This is the due to the ratio between the vehicle mass and engine power, which is more extreme in MotoGP bikes and allows for greater acceleration of the lower vehicle/rider mass. Current F1 cars are the heaviest they’ve ever been at around 800 kg with the driver but without the fuel, but MotoGP bikes are much lighter at around 150 kg without the rider, allowing this mass to be accelerated faster.

Braking – F1 cars have much stronger stopping power, as evidenced by the shorter braking distances than MotoGP bikes, where the riders must begin slowing down much earlier before corners. F1 cars use a very powerful hydraulic braking system with carbon discs. MotoGP bikes also use carbon brake discs and pads for the front and rear wheels, but it doesn’t deliver as much stopping power as an F1 car. An F1 car can slow down from 210 mph to 80 mph in just over 100 meters, which is not something a MotoGP bike can match.

Aerodynamics – Again, F1 cars are superior in this regard with the front and rear wings and other vehicle parts being much more intricate and advanced to allow for faster cornering speed. Whilst both vehicles are intense to drive in their own way, F1 drivers experience much higher “G” or gravity force through corners, anything up to 5G or more during braking/cornering. MotoGP riders experience around 1-1.2 G during cornering because of the lower speeds and less emphasis on aerodynamic downforce.

Mechanical Grip – F1 cars are again superior in this regard, which makes sense as in simple terms, 4 wheels is going to be better than 2 for pure cornering grip. F1 cars are also rotated through corner by actually changing the direction of the wheels (traditional steering), whereas MotoGP bikes corner more through simply leaning the bike over, which takes longer and is a less efficient way of moving through corners.

Overall cost of vehicle – In general, F1 cars are much more advanced and expensive vehicle, with modern ones costing anything up to $10 million to make. MotoGP bikes also use very expensive technology but aren’t on the same scale as F1 cars, with the best ones costing around $1 – 2.5 million. When there’s this amount of difference in the money spent on the vehicles top optimize lap times, it stands to reason that the F1 car is going to be quite a lot faster.

F1 and MotoGP Real Life Pole Laps Compared

Let’s also offer a visual demonstration of the difference by putting pole laps with telemetry around the same Losail (Qatar) circuit side by side so you can see the difference.

F1 Pole Lap Qatar (Lewis Hamilton 2021)

• Time – 1:20.287
• Top speed – 319 km/h

MotoGP Pole Lap Qatar (Jorge Martin 2022)

• Time – 1:53.011
• Top speed – 347 km/h
• Difference to F1 pole lap – +32.184 seconds.
• Difference in top speed – +28 km/h

As you can see, it follows the general pattern laid out above. The MotoGP bikes have insane acceleration and top speed and so are actually significantly faster at the end of the long straight than the F1 cars, but the overall lap time is still much slower because they’re much slower in the corners than the F1 cars.

See the table below for some more comparisons of F1 and MotoGP pole laps – on the exact same circuit layout in dry conditions.

You’ll see the gap remains as low as 20 seconds faster for F1 cars, sometimes up to 25-30 seconds faster on longer and/or more twisty circuits because of the superior cornering capability of the Formula 1 cars.

Is It The Same On The Video Games?

This difference in overall lap times between MotoGP bikes and F1 cars is carried over into the video games. You’ll just notice that the bikes do have faster acceleration and top speed, but also that you have to begin braking much earlier for corners, and your sector times are significantly faster for F1 cars as the greater aerodynamic capability starts to show.

Let’s demonstrate this again by showing some qualifying times for both F1 and MotoGP games from top level eSports players, again on the same track in dry conditions.

You can see that the overall lap times for each category are up to a few seconds faster than real life as they tend to be on sim racing games, but the gap still remains constant at around 20 seconds and up to 30+ seconds depending on the track. The MotoGP bikes are impressive on the straights, but less efficient in the corners, and this is reflected in the slower lap times.