MotoGP Vs F1: The Two Highest Castes Of Motorcycle And Car Racing In The Universe, Which Is More Popular?

Illustration of MotoGP (Instagram/@motogp)

JAKARTA - Saying the name Valentino Rossi, almost everyone will immediately recognize him as a living legend of MotoGP, the most prestigious motorcycle racing event on planet earth. While on the other hand, the name Lewis Hamilton will also make people immediately recognize him as a Formula 1 (F1) car racer.

Not just an iconic figure from the two prestigious motor sport events. Each of them has had extraordinary achievements. If calculated in the highest class, Lewis Hamilton is the F1 world champion six times. While Rossi is a collector of seven times MotoGP world champion.

Apart from the achievements of each of the iconic figures from these two prestigious racing events, the interest of fans cannot be generalized. If you compare which competition is more popular between MotoGP and F1 the results cannot be measured with certainty.

Because, both F1 and MotoGP have become popular sports in one country while in some other countries they are starting to be abandoned. A definite example is when F1 became a sport that began to lose interest in Malaysia and South Korea, at the same time in China it was MotoGP that lost its appeal.

The Shanghai circuit in China even became a place for the euphoria of the two prestigious racing events to be poured out. The circuit is one of the tracks in the world that has hosted both F1 and MotoGP events in the same year from 2005-2008.

However, when F1 still exists at the Shanghai Circuit until now, the MotoGP event has not included this circuit as a location for racing since 2009. Meanwhile, the opposite situation occurred in Malaysia. 2017 was the last year for F1 to race at the Sepang Circuit.

Apart from the agenda calendar that has increased and decreased, examining the popularity of F1 and MotoGP which cannot be generalized can be seen from several aspects. One of them is the number of followers on social media.

The official F1 and MotoGP social media accounts have their respective advantages in the number of followers, depending on the platform. On Facebook, MotoGP excels.

MotoGP's Facebook account is recorded to be liked by around 13.6 million users, when F1 only has 8.8 million. Meanwhile on Instagram, the conditions are balanced because the two official accounts of the two events both have about 8.5 million fans.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, F1 is the winner because it has 4.2 million followers while MotoGP only has 2.6 million followers.

Another benchmark is the number of followers of each of the iconic racers of these two events. Hamilton, who represents F1 is known to have 27.1 million followers on Instagram. While Valentino Rossi is far below him with 13 million followers.

On the other hand, in terms of revenue, F1 has more popular points. Because Forbes magazine had released a list of 100 athletes with the highest income. From there, it was found that two F1 drivers were included in the list.

They are Lewis Hamilton who is in 13th position and Sebastian Vettel in 30th position. However, out of 100 athletes, there is not even a single MotoGP rider on the list.

In Indonesia itself, MotoGP is a more popular racing event than F1. Because if you look at it with the naked eye, more people are interested in the competition between the riders carried by MotoGP. It's different with F1 which emphasizes technical competition through machine vs machine.

The dominance of motorcycles in the country is also a bit of an aspect that favors the popularity of MotoGP. Because MotoGP lovers can still reduce their hobbies to their respective mounts by modifying or buying sport motorbikes.

The popularity of MotoGP in Indonesia is also reflected in the number of manufacturers participating in the MotoGP championship, which are better known to our society, especially the Big Four manufacturers from Japan. This is far from European four-wheel manufacturers such as the Italian Prancing Horse, the German Three Star, or the French Diamond.