Rookie’s struggles exposed in Spanish MotoGP Rider Ratings

A race that gave a new winner, a crash for the pre-race favourite, and a first non-Ducati rider to finish on the podium and not incur a penalty later on meant the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix was one with almost as many disappointing performances as it had outstanding ones.

Alex Marquez - 9.9

It was a perfect Sunday for Alex Marquez, who made no mistakes – bar almost cleaning out the whole front group at turn six on the first lap – in order to take advantage of the blunder from the championship leader that left the door wide open for him to take his first Grand Prix victory since 2019.

A first premier class win is always special, but doing it at his home Grand Prix and after a huge crash in practice on Friday that cost him valuable track time only added to the impression of this success that re-elevated Marquez to the status of championship leader.

It’s for that crash, though, and for missing the front row for the first time in 2025, that Marquez doesn’t get a full 10/10 for his Jerez weekend, but almost nothing he did on Sunday was anything short of exceptional – even the avoidance of contact in the aforementioned turn six moment was and impressive show of bike control and calm-mindedness.

Fabio Quartararo - 9.7

As excellent as Marquez was, the ride of the day was probably Fabio Quartararo’s. He took the early lead, held of Marquez for eight laps, and then didn’t give Francesco Bagnaia a sniff after he lost the lead.

Like the victorious Marquez, Quartararo was exceptional on Sunday, and his pole position on Saturday was almost incomprehensible – only his crash in the Sprint was a mark against his weekend, but he was battling Marc Marquez for the lead when it happened which was remarkable by itself.

Francesco Bagnaia - 7

Texas aside, Francesco Bagnaia’s season continues to lurch from frustration to frustration, and this time the Italian was third again, but beaten by a satellite Ducati rider and a Yamaha.

He’s not crashed out of a race yet this year, which is a step over last year for Bagnaia, but his competitiveness is also lower.

The Jerez test will be crucial for the rest of his season, to find more performance so that, if and when Marc Marquez makes another mistake, it is him that is able to capitalise on it.

Maverick Vinales - 8.5

Maverick Vinales was once again KTM’s best rider, which was only marginally less surprising this time than in Qatar.

He was unable to pass Bagnaia late on for the same reasons Bagnaia could do nothing about Quartararo: Bagnaia made no mistakes, and proximity to the rider ahead equalled reduced performance because of the front tyre pressure.

But he was again much better than all of the KTMs and was able to comfortably beat Fabio Di Giannantonio.

Genuine promise now for KTM, although they have been strong in Jerez previously.

Fabio Di Giannantonio - 6.5

Fabio Di Giannantonio was the worst of the Ducati riders all weekend, which meant sixth place on Saturday and then fifth on Sunday. He didn’t crash, which was positive, but the performance was underwhelming, if not awful, in general at Jerez.

<H2>Brad Binder - 7

Sixth for Brad Binder is his best result of the season, which says a lot about his 2025 to now. He got comfortably beaten by Vinales again, but he was back in front of Pedro Acosta on Sunday in what was a solid ride from the South African.

Pedro Acosta - 6

The expectation for Acosta this season is that he should be the best KTM rider. This time he was the third-best, and was never on the level of Vinales, which was disappointing, especially given he was on the podium in the Jerez Sprint 2024.

Ai Ogura - 7

Ai Ogura was fairly anonymous in Jerez but despite the lack of flash – which has really been missing since Argentina – the Japanese rider was back in the top-10 in the race and was the best Aprilia (partly thanks to an early mistake by Marco Bezzecchi).

Another solid race from the reigning Moto2 World Champion, although there does seem to have been a lack of progression across the opening five rounds.

Enea Bastianini - 6.5

Enea Bastianini finishing in the top-10 was positively surprising in Thailand, but the struggle he had in passing Luca Marini for ninth in Jerez was – unfortunately for him – broadcast live on TV, and his issues in braking that have been present with the RC16 since Barcelona last year have clearly not been treated.

Luca Marini - 6.5

Luca Marini was the best Honda in 10th, but he was never as competitive as Joan Mir (who crashed again) in Jerez. The Italian remains a sure pilot for HRC, but the speed needs to improve.

Johann Zarco - 5

This was Johann Zarco’s worst race of the season. He’s been better than Luca Marini in general this year, but he was simply beaten by his HRC stablemate in the Spanish GP. He was also out-qualified by Joan Mir, and 11th made for an underwhelming end to the weekend for the LCR Honda rider.

Marc Marquez - 3

He had the whole thing in-hand, but like in COTA Marc Marquez blew it – and he was beaten to pole by a Yamaha.

In the race, it was the kind of mistake that Bagnaia has been berated for in the past, but with Marquez there is a greater sense of conviction that, by the end of the season, these kinds of mistakes won’t make a difference in the outcome of the championship.

Alex Rins - 4

Alex Rins’ weekend was probably conditioned by his FP2 crash on Saturday morning at turn four, which was undoubtedly a big one.

But on a weekend where his factory Yamaha teammate was on pole position and beating a factory Ducati to second in the Grand Prix, the absence of Rins from the top-10 was even more notable than usual.

Aleix Espargaro - 6

Aleix Espargaro never turned up to be the best Honda rider and he never threatened to be. Results weren’t the objective, and he did all the laps, bar a technical problem in Q1 that cost him half the session, so solid enough for his first wildcard as an HRC test rider.

Marco Bezzecchi - 6.5

Q2 for Marco Bezzecchi was positive, as was finishing eighth in the Sprint. But running on at turn one on the second lap destroyed his race. It’s difficult to say exactly what happened to Bezzecchi in that moment because the TV helicopter was focusing on the leaders and there are no on-boards available which caught it, but certainly it was a moment which wrote the rest of his race.

Raul Fernandez - 3

Raul Fernandez’s struggles continue. He remains off the pace, and was beaten by Bezzecchi on the same bike despite the Italian's aforementioned struggles. He was also nowhere near his rookie teammate.

Augusto Fernandez - 5

Augusto Fernandez continues to do a fine enough job replacing Miguel Oliveira, although there really hasn’t been any flash to note at all so far.

Lorenzo Savadori - 5

Lorenzo Savadori is in the same position as Aleix Espargaro, more or less, albeit in place of Jorge Martin rather than a wildcard. His job was to do the laps and he did them, but the crash in Q1 was clearly unnecessary.

Fermin Aldeguer - 6.5

Another mistake with a big opportunity on the table from Fermin Aldeguer, but the Spanish rider is continuing to make progress and he has seemingly asserted himself among the rest of the Ducati riders.

Franco Morbidelli - 5

Franco Morbidelli was solid again this weekend, but the fourth-best Ducati rider. A crash in turn 11 left him with a “significant cervical contusion,” per a statement from the VR46 team.

Joan Mir - 5.5

Crashes for Joan Mir are no different to last year. That he is now crashing from sixth rather than from 16th is either positive or negative depending on whether you value the speed more than the points or vice versa.

Jack Miller - 5

Jack Miller suffered an electrical issue in the Grand Prix, but was 11th when he retired. He was unable to get into Q2 when Quartararo was able to put the M1 on pole position, which is representative of a difference in performance between the two that is significantly inflated compared to the standard that Miller had set in his opening races with Yamaha.

Somkiat Chantra - 2

Somkiat Chantra’s retirement from the Spanish Grand Prix was reportedly due to arm pump. It’s essentially a standard issue for rookies by now, and Jerez is a circuit to expose that more than most places. Still, Chantra was ahead of only Savadori and the hurting Alex Rins in qualifying, and was actually 0.7 seconds behind Savadori in the Sprint.