Open vs Factory. One thing I'm wondering over this whole spirit of the rules issue. Forget the politics for a moment, how would the engineering change if you were trying to optimise an Open entry? So that's 24L, 12 engines, but spec software. Does the extra fuel and engines mean you could run more aggressive cams, higher compression and so on? And hence have a faster bike in qualifying as well as a faster race distance. And is the factory software advantage actually now about surviving a race on 20L and not so much about optimising qualifying?

The way this pans out is of course about politics and approach as much as engineering.
- Honda: Screws their satellite teams, screws their customer teams even more.
- Yamaha: Plays a subtle game but relies mainly on the factory team riders ability to keep them in front. Satellite and customers get last year's tech but not dumbed-down tech.
- Ducati: Try and do an end run round the rules. Some times it works, some times it doesn't. Some teams are in favour some aren't.
- Suzuki: Pride makes them want to play but they can't afford it. So mostly they expect to fail and so fail to win.
- Everyone else: They're part of the circus instead of having proper jobs. What's not to like?