Balaton Park MotoGP Preview: Politics, Racing, Circuits

Balaton Park MotoGP Preview: Politics, Racing, Circuits

Some fans like to tell writers to keep politics out of sport. That, of course, is impossible. Sport is part of life. Politics is part of life. Politics and sport are intimately intertwined. Professional sport requires money to operate (the clue is in the name), and where there's money, there's politics.

Need to build a race track? You'll need to find a large chunk of ground, get permission from the local authorities, consult with the neighbors (if you are lucky enough to live in a country where people get a say), find funding to build the circuit and facilities, coordinate with local and regional authorities about transport links and medical facilities, energy and communications providers about power and connectivity, the police about traffic management and security. You will need to persuade all of these people to get the go ahead, and so all of this is political.

It is doubly impossible to talk about the Hungarian round of MotoGP without discussing politics, especially given the seismic political change that has just happened in the country. On April 12th of this year, Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party were voted out of power by the Hungarian people, and replaced by the TISZA party led by Péter Magyar. Normally, elections do not have that much of an effect on MotoGP, but in Hungary, it could have a massive impact.

Cronyism and corruption

David Emmett Wed, 03/Jun/2026 - 21:58

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