How Honda and Yamaha let podium slip in Indonesian GP

The Indonesian Grand Prix was somewhat of a lost opportunity for Honda and Yamaha to score a MotoGP podium, given the pace they had enjoyed in the run-up to the race.

With the factory Ducati squad enduring a torrid weekend during which it wrapped up the teams’ title, the race looked like the golden opportunity for Honda and Yamaha to capitalise on the situation and score some big points.

Indeed, the two Japanese manufacturers showed promising pace in Friday practice, with Luca Marini and Joan Mir finishing fourth and sixth for Honda and Yamaha putting three bikes inside the top 10.

While Honda arguably made smaller gains than some of its rivals overnight, Marini still qualified a solid sixth, while Alex Rins put together his most impressive showing as a Yamaha rider to grab fourth on the grid.

In Sunday’s race, both Marini and Rins ran high as second behind the dominant Gresini Ducati of Fermin Aldeguer, but neither came away with a podium finish at the end of lap 27.

In an unconventional race that turned into a Moto3-style contest, KTM’s Pedro Acosta brilliantly managed the pace and defended his position, allowing a number of riders to join the battle for the runner-up spot.

Running the more durable medium front, as his tyre-chewing RC16 couldn’t do the full race on the softs, Acosta came under serious pressure from Marini, but had a response to the Honda each time.

Marini first passed Acosta for second on lap 10, but the Spaniard immediately fought back to reclaim position. On lap 12, Marini made the move stick at Turn 12, but Acosta charged again at Turn 16 on the following lap to reclaim second.

“Pedro blocked everybody completely. He did an amazing race,” said Marini. “I don’t know [how] but KTM allowed them to brake super deep.  They also used the medium front, maybe even for this, and the bike accelerated in a way that is unbelievable, much faster than Ducati also. 

“It’s very difficult to overtake, I tried many times but then he overtook me again. I was managing my tyre pressure a little because after yesterday’s race [where I was penalised for exceeding the limit], I was worried a little bit.

“But I think I had a good pace to be in P2 easily. I just needed to make a good overtake on Pedro and not let him pass me again.”

Even if Marini had stayed behind Acosta, Honda would have enjoyed a second podium in as many weekends following Mir’s third-place finish in Japan. However, the way Acosta controlled the pace brought a number of riders into play, including the last remaining Aprilia of Raul Fernandez, who had finished third just the day before in the sprint race.

Fernandez passed Marini at Turn 16 on lap 14, but Marini retaliated at the final corner and the pair made contact. Both riders ran wide and lost positions, eventually finishing fifth (Marini) and sixth (Fernandez).

Fernandez described Marini’s actions as “not intelligent”, while Marini hit back at the Trackhouse rider for costing both of them a podium.

Rin’s podium charge and sudden drop

Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

The rider who benefitted the most from their clash was a resurgent Rins, who hugged the inside line at Turn 17 to swoop past both in one move. 

Rins had dropped from fourth to fifth on the opening lap, but having remained in striking distance, he was able to pounce on the opportunity to grab third.

In fact, the Spaniard even passed Acosta’s KTM five laps later, demonstrating how much pace he had at that stage of the race. However, the factory Yamahas had opted for the less durable soft rear tyre on Sunday, having struggled to warm up the medium compound with the stiffer carcass. This left Rins vulnerable at the end and he experienced a sudden drop in performance on lap 23, eventually tumbling to 10th place.

For a rider who has endured a bruising stint since switching to Yamaha in 2024, running in podium positions was a much-needed morale boost. But he simply took too much life out of his tyres early in the race and paid the price for it.

“It was a shame. We knew before the start of the race that with the soft tyre we were going to suffer,” he said. “I hoped that the drop was coming early but in the end it was only the last five laps. I gave my best, tried to control the rear tyre, and until the last five laps I was there.”

With Rins dropping rapidly down the order, it was again Fabio Quartararo who finished as the top Yamaha, crossing the finish line in seventh place. 

Alex Rins, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

“I was behind [Rins] for 2-3 laps, I could not overtake him,” said Quartararo. “But then I saved the tyre a bit and he was gone in a few laps. 

“I said, I don’t know if he is going to arrive till the end but I had to keep my tyre a little bit fresh. Seven laps to the end, I saw he was still second. Maybe I managed a bit too much. But then the problem in general is that when the tyre is up, it’s gone.”

On a weekend where the competitive form book was torn apart and Yamaha had the pace to qualify on the second row, Quartararo would have ideally been there with Rins – if not several tenths quicker. 

However, Quartararo had struggled all weekend in Indonesia, and was the only one forced to go with the hard front tyre in the race. Even so, he put together a solid show on Sunday to finish just two seconds behind Alex Marquez, who took the final podium spot in third.

Mir “angry” after DNF

Riding high on his podium finish in Japan, Mir should have been up there in the battle for second place, too. His weekend was compromised by “issues” in qualifying – including yellow flags – leaving him 12th on the grid, but his charge to fifth in the sprint had shown that he was quick in race trim.

On Sunday, Mir was able to climb to seventh on the opening lap, benefitting from the crash between Marc Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi. But his race ended prematurely on lap 2 after he went down on his own at Turn 16.

“As you can imagine, I’m angry because we lost a good opportunity today to fight for another podium, but sometimes things come like this,” Mir admitted. “We have to understand what happened with the medium rear tyre because the bike wasn’t rideable. 

“In the first two laps, to get [tyres] into [the right] temperature was completely impossible. We have to analyse because we have to do something differently because something is missing at the moment. 

“It’s not that I tried to overtake someone and I crashed. I was behind, just trying to warm up the rear tyre and in every braking point I was going wide; I was going completely wide without being able to push, so I am very angry for that reason. 

“We have to understand what we did differently or how we can improve because we missed something today technically.”

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