Updated August 2026.

Every Grand Prix Thursday, outside the gates of Misano or Mugello, someone is promising to sell what is not for sale. The MotoGP Paddock Pass is arguably the most misunderstood credential in motorsport: fans ask where it can be bought, how much it costs and how to get inside the paddock. The short answer is that the Paddock Pass is not a ticket but a work credential: it is issued free of charge by the championship organiser to teams, sponsors, media and operational staff, it has no official price, and anyone who buys one through unauthorised channels risks having it voided at the first gate check.

It seems only fair, then, to set the record straight on the purpose and proper use of a tool designed for industry insiders rather than fans — one that, precisely for that reason, comes with clear limitations, rules and prerogatives. At the risk of stating the obvious, we answer the most common questions, including a few that have been circulating for years without a genuinely thorough reply.

• What the MotoGP paddock is
• What a MotoGP Paddock Pass is
• What the Paddock Pass is for
• How much it costs and why it cannot be bought
• How to enter the paddock legally
• Using the pass and gate checks
• Does the same apply to Formula 1?
• Frequently asked questions

What is the MotoGP paddock?

The MotoGP paddock is the fenced-off area of the circuit, usually located directly behind the pit building, where team technicians, mechanics and staff set up the race trucks and hospitality units, and where all the activities required to run a Grand Prix take place. The term comes from horse racing, where it refers to the enclosure in which horses are prepared before the race.

The MotoGP paddock, in other words, is not a truck, not a structure, not a pit box, not a garage and not a hospitality unit: it is the enclosure that contains all of them, along with race control offices and the small operational world that revolves around them.

Why does the definition matter? Not out of pedantry, but because once the coveted paddock pass is finally hanging around your neck, you need to understand where it does — and does not — allow you to go.

What is a MotoGP Paddock Pass?

The MotoGP Paddock Pass is just one of the many types of credential produced by the organiser of the World Championship — Dorna, since July 2025 part of the Liberty Media group, the same company that controls Formula 1 — to give operators, technicians and media access to restricted areas. There are press passes, grid passes, road service passes and several others. The Paddock Pass — physically a rigid plastic badge of roughly 5.5 by 7.5 centimetres, worn on a fabric lanyard — grants access to the paddock area through the security checkpoints positioned at its entrance and exit. Like other credentials, it can be permanent, valid for the entire season, or limited to a single Grand Prix.

Different passes correspond to different roles. Dorna and IRTA, two of the championship’s main governing bodies, assign credentials sparingly and according to function, distributing them among teams, sports properties, agencies and operational staff.

What is the Paddock Pass for?

The Paddock Pass exists to give access to the operational paddock area for work purposes: with the exception of the permanent version, it is a tool used mostly for the benefit of team sponsors. With it, you can move around the area of the trucks backing onto the garages, the hospitality units and the service trucks, and you may well cross paths with a rider scooting from motorhome to garage. However, anyone expecting to wander into every MotoGP hospitality unit for a coffee, or to watch the race from a privileged vantage point, is in for a disappointment: you cannot watch the race from the MotoGP paddock at all — unless you hold the dedicated “V” sticker, which grants access to the small Viewing Area grandstand — and team facilities are off limits without the appropriate identification “tag” attached to the lanyard of your pass.

How much does a MotoGP Paddock Pass cost — and why you cannot buy one

The MotoGP Paddock Pass has no official price and is not for sale: it is a work tool handed out free of charge to those who need it to do their job — teams, journalists and photographers (who hold media passes), operators, agencies and technicians. There is no price list and no authorised sales channel: there is only the accreditation, and resale is not permitted.

Online, more than one self-styled seller touts paddock passes for Grands Prix such as Misano or Mugello at eye-watering prices, just as the ever-present touts outside circuit gates buy and sell passes for serious money. Our advice is to steer well clear of this kind of transaction: entries and exits, presence and movements are continuously monitored by a centralised access-control system operating at the various gates, where authorised staff scan and verify every credential. A pass acquired through the back door may already have been “checked in” — leaving whoever presents it stranded outside the gates.

One necessary distinction: some circuits — Motegi and Phillip Island, for example — legitimately sell spectator tickets branded “Paddock Pass”, which grant access to areas set aside for the public at that single event. These are local circuit products and should not be confused with the World Championship paddock credential, which remains unpurchasable.

Make no mistake, the paddock remains one of the most fascinating places of the entire Grand Prix weekend: mechanics and team staff move back and forth between garages and hospitality units with remarkable precision, TV crews from the world’s biggest networks shoot features and interviews, and managers hold back-to-back meetings that shape the present and future of the sport. But this small travelling world, running beautifully and identically in every corner of the globe, is not designed for spectators: there are no grandstands or giant screens, no shelter from sun or rain, and nowhere to sit or rest.

How to get into the MotoGP paddock legally

There are essentially three legitimate routes into the paddock. The first is professional: being part of a team, a sports property or an accredited company — as is the case for MotoGP sponsors, to whom teams allocate a share of their credentials. The second is the media route, with press passes obtained through Dorna’s official accreditation process. The third — the only one genuinely open to the public — is official hospitality: the MotoGP VIP Village packages, which we at RTR Sports manage for our clients, always include the Pit Lane Walk and, depending on the Grand Prix, either paddock access — in the 2026 formats, at selected non-European rounds such as Japan, from Friday to Sunday — or a guided Paddock Tour, alongside exclusive seating in reserved grandstands and top-tier food and wine.

Those who choose these programmes don’t just get a first-hand taste of the behind-the-scenes magic: they get it with the services that make a race weekend genuinely complete. We covered the difference between the two instruments — hospitality ticket on one side, work credential on the other — in detail in this comparison of the MotoGP VIP Pass and Paddock Pass. In short:

VIP Pass vs Paddock Pass MotoGP at a glance

Using the Paddock Pass and gate checks

Every pass holder, whatever the type of credential, must have it scanned on entering and leaving the MotoGP paddock at dedicated scanners operated by circuit staff. This way, the central access-management system knows exactly which passes — and therefore which people — are inside or outside the paddock at any given moment. Anyone attempting to re-enter with a pass still recorded as “in” would be stopped immediately by security, and the credential would be cancelled for the entire duration of the Grand Prix.

Do the same rules apply to Formula 1?

Yes: in substance, everything you have just read also applies to F1 Paddock Passes. They are work tools, accessible only through the teams and their Formula 1 sponsors. For the public, the equivalent of official hospitality is the Paddock Club: buy your tickets from authorised resellers or from Formula 1 itself, and don’t run the risk of sourcing VIP passes through other channels that could leave you standing outside the gates.

One truth remains, and it matters more than any rulebook: the paddock is where MotoGP goes to work, and that is precisely why it holds a fascination no grandstand can match. Understanding how it operates — who gets in, why, and with what credential — is the first step to experiencing it properly. Whether for business or for passion, the behind-the-scenes world of Grand Prix racing opens up to those who respect it for what it is: not a show to be bought, but a world to be visited with the right credential.

Frequently asked questions about the MotoGP Paddock Pass