What we learned from MotoGP Australian Grand Prix

Phillip Island didn’t exactly upend the established MotoGP form guide, given Indonesia had already given a hint of what was to come in Australia. But there were still plenty of surprise results, as Raul Fernandez won for Aprilia and Fabio Di Giannantonio led the charge for Ducati in second.

The high-speed collision between Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez in Indonesia also had repercussions in Melbourne. Bezzecchi had to serve a double long-lap penalty, ruling out any chances of a victory, while Marquez missed the race entirely to recover from his shoulder fracture.

Here is everything we learned from the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.

Aprilia has fixed its rider problem (mostly)

The Indonesian Grand Prix highlighted that Aprilia had a serious rider problem. It was bad enough that it was down to just two riders in the race, with both Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura being forced out due to injuries. But with both remaining riders either making grave errors (in Marco Bezzecchi’s case) or simply underperforming (as was the case with Raul Fernandez), Aprilia came away with a sixth-place finish from a race where it should have at least scored a 1-2.

However, everything finally clicked for the Noale brand in Australia, as it delivered on its potential to score a double podium finish. Firstly, Fernandez didn’t put a foot wrong all weekend, qualifying fourth and finishing a strong second in the sprint. Then, he seized the moment in the race, reasserting his authority over KTM rival Pedro Acosta after briefly dropping behind him on lap 3. These early laps laid the foundation of his first win, as he avoided the midfield scrap that cost him a podium in Indonesia.

Bezzecchi, too, was calmer after serving his double long-lap penalty, opting to save his tyres for a late charge rather than mounting an immediate attack on Fabio Quartararo. Every overtake was safe, with none of the recklessness that had sent both him and Marc Marquez into the gravel in Mandalika.

Still, Aprilia needs Ogura to pick up the pace after his comeback and Martin to finally get to grips with the RS-GP. But at least the Noale factory is getting into a situation where it can reap the benefits of the only bike capable of challenging the Ducati.

Ducati is lost without Marc Marquez

Ducati’s blushes were spared with Di Giannantonio taking second place

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Ducati already lost two brilliant riders this year in Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin, but the injury-induced absence of its new star Marc Marquez is hurting it the most.

On several occasions this year, Marquez had managed to win races where Ducati was arguably not the quickest bike. But with the world champion out of action in Australia, there was no other rider in its contingent who could drag the Desmosedici to victory ahead of the Aprilias. 

Francesco Bagnaia sounded like a broken record as he highlighted his difficulties on the Ducati, Michele Pirro was competing in his first race in almost a year, Indonesia winner Fermin Aldeguer was nowhere to be seen on Sunday, Franco Morbidelli qualified down in 17th and Alex Marquez suffered from tyre woes that left him out of the podium fight. The only saving grace was Fabio Di Giannantonio, who charged from 10th on the grid to finish second behind Fernandez.

But apart from Marc Marquez himself, no other Ducati rider has been able to consistently run near the front this year, not even his own brother Alex. That is a big problem for Ducati, especially with Aprilia now having a faster bike at least certain types of tracks.

Bagnaia’s woes may remain a mystery in 2025

Bagnaia’s nightmare 2025 continued in Australia

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

For years, Ducati had struggled to find a rider who could match Bagnaia. But now that it has one of the most successful riders of all time in its line-up, Bagnaia himself has become the weak link. The result is that the factory Ducati team continues to have a chink in its armour. 

The Japanese GP now feels like an outlier – rather than a turning point – in Bagnaia’s campaign. With just three rounds now remaining, he may just have to accept that he will never be able to get a firm answer on why he is struggling so much in 2025.

Bagnaia started the weekend with two identical bikes and yet the difference between the two couldn’t be any more pronounced. Things worsened on Saturday and he finished a 13-lap sprint with a deficit of 32s in 19th. Even LCR rookie Somkiat Chantra finished over three seconds up the road on his Honda.

A wrong turn in warm-up ended up guiding him in the right direction for the race, though he had still lost 14 seconds to the leaders when he went down at Siberia on lap 24.

The Malaysian GP should allow Bagnaia to assess how the behaviour of the bike has changed compared to testing, but he might be better off writing off the season and switching focus to 2026.

Yamaha and Fabio Quartararo have a lot of work to do 

Quartararo went from pole to bottom-end of the points

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

It’s not unusual to see Fabio Quartararo qualify on pole with his brilliant one-lap pace and then rapidly tumble down the order in the race. But no one could have foreseen the Frenchman finishing 11th, more than 17 seconds off the lead.

Quartararo was no more than a moving chicane in the race, struggling to stop the bike and carry speed through the corners. 

These issues would have been understandable if he were still the fastest Yamaha on track. But Alex Rins was able to comprehensively outperform him, jumping from 11th to seventh in the final laps. While Rins was able to lap in the mid-to-high 1m28s on worn tyres, Quartararo was firmly in the 1m29s late in the race.

One can only hope that Quartararo’s struggles in both Indonesia and Australia are track-specific, rather than indicative of a deeper issue.

Either way, it’s not the way he would have wanted to perform in the Asia-Pacific leg of the season, especially given his doubts over the potential of Yamaha’s V4 bike for 2026.

MotoGP needs a spark to sustain fan interest in final stretch

With its superstar rider out injured and the title fight decided, it is a low-key end to the 2025 MotoGP season

Photo by: Santanu Banik / MB Media / Getty Images

The 2025 MotoGP title being decided with five rounds remaining on the calendar wasn’t necessarily unwelcome, as it marked the completion of one of the greatest comebacks in sporting history. However, Marquez picking up a shoulder injury just one week is a major problem, not just for the Spaniard himself but also for MotoGP.

While a full timeline for recovery is yet to be established, it’s a possibility that Marquez may miss all three remaining rounds. That means MotoGP has to try to sustain fan interest with the championship already decided and its biggest star absent.

There’s a wider issue, too. There are five world champions on the grid this year: Marquez, Bagnaia, Quartararo, Joan Mir and Jorge Martin.

The two most recent title winners (Marquez and Martin) are out with injuries, Bagnaia is enduring a miserable run and Quartararo has also hit a rough patch of late. That just leaves Mir, who has enjoyed a resurgence of late on the improved factory Honda, but you can argue he isn’t among the most famous riders on the grid.

Athletes are only a part of the appeal in motorsport, given the importance of machinery, but recent events show MotoGP cannot always rely on its biggest stars to market itself.

MotoGP rumbles on to Malaysia next weekend

Photo by: Robert Cianflone / Getty Images

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