Over the last few years, riders have been calling for the gravel traps at the circuit near Portimao to be altered due to what they felt was a dangerous size of stone being used.
This issue first came into the spotlight at the 2022 Portuguese GP when Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia suffered a crash during Friday practice and subsequently scooped up a handful of stones from the gravel to take back to his garage.
The gravel trap issue was discussed in the safety commission that year, but in 2023 Gresini's Fabio Di Giannantonio was forced to miss the final day of pre-season testing in Portugal after he crashed into the gravel.
The Italian suffered a concussion after his crash helmet was shattered by the blow of the stones, which led him at the time to say: "If we have to race like this, we should go to Monaco where it's more show and the risk would be the same."
After this incident, the riders continued to put pressure on the championship to get the circuit to make the changes to the gravel they had long requested.
As MotoGP returns to Portugal this weekend for the second round of the 2024 season, most of the gravel in the run-off areas around the Algarve track has been replaced.
A document detailing the upgrades to the circuit reads: "Most of the gravel areas have a new type of stone, some asphalt run-offs have been reduced to increase the gravel areas, and air fence modules have been added."
Source: Autosport