Would you have bet on the bike?
At the Circuit of the Americas, the fastest a MotoGP bike has been measured is 356.4 km/h, by Maverick Viñales on his Aprilia in the 2023 race, slipstreaming down the long back straight between Turns 11 and 12. The fastest F1 speed-trap reading in the 2024 United States Grand Prix was 344.6 km/h, by George Russell. That is 11.8 km/h in the bike’s favour.
Here both are held at those top speeds for the whole run down COTA’s back straight, on the real circuit outline. After 11.5 seconds the bike is about 38 metres ahead.
This is a picture of two top-speed numbers, not a race. Neither vehicle holds its top speed for that long, and over a lap the F1 car is far quicker – Valtteri Bottas’s 2019 F1 pole of 1:32.029 is almost half a minute faster than the 2026 MotoGP pole of 2:00.136. An F1 car runs much more downforce, which costs it top speed on the straights and gives it far more speed through the corners.
The two figures also come from different years and sessions: the MotoGP number is a race top speed with a tow, the F1 number is the 2024 race speed trap.
Scope and method: the highest MotoGP top speed recorded at COTA, and the fastest F1 speed-trap reading in the 2024 race, each held constant. Gap after 11.5 s = (356.4 – 344.6) / 3.6 x 11.5 = 37.7 m. The speed-trap marker on the map is placed on the back straight; its exact position is approximate.
Source: MotoGP top speed – MotoGP.com top-speeds article and Oversteer48 (356.4 km/h, Viñales, 2023). F1 speed trap – FIA 2024 United States GP race maximum speeds and Motor Sport magazine (344.6 km/h). Lap times – Wikipedia, Pirelli and Oversteer48 (Bottas); MotoGP.com, Crash.net and Road Racing World (Di Giannantonio). Circuit: track-atlas, direction and start line checked against the TUM racetrack-database centreline.
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