Past podium finisher's struggles highlighted in Aragon MotoGP Rider Ratings

Marc Marquez dominance in Aragon is about as predictable as MotoGP gets, but the Aragon MotoGP saw multiple protagonists from recent races slip backwards.

Marc Marquez - 10

It’s been a few races since we saw Marc Marquez do what Marc Marquez should do, which is take pole, win the Sprint, and win the Grand Prix.

But the championship leader never missed a beat in MotorLand. There were a few laps he didn’t lead, but realistically no one ever looked like beating him.

Alex Marquez - 9

2-2-2 for Alex Marquez across qualifying, the Sprint, and the Grand Prix. That’s fine, because he’s a satellite rider and trying to beat Marc Marquez in Aragon is like trying to walk into a restaurant in Bologna as an Ingerlish and trying to make a better lasagna than the head chef.

At the same time, he got beat twice by his primary title rival, who is now 32 points ahead – that framing is harsher, but that’s life as a MotoGP title guy, unfortunately.

Francesco Bagnaia - 7.5

Sunday was a big rescue job from Francesco Bagnaia. His whole weekend was much as the last two – even worse, actually, when he finished 12th in the Sprint. But a change in brake disc on Sunday morning gave him back some confidence, and he converted that to a podium.

As good as Bagnaia’s Sunday turnaround was, though, the change he made was only good enough for him to resume the position he had in Thailand: behind both Marquezes.

So, positive – eventually – but still a long way to go for the two-time MotoGP Champion.

Pedro Acosta - 8

KTM continues to bounce between being the best of the non-Ducatis and the worst of them, as do all the other non-Ducati manufacturers.

This weekend was a better one for them, and Acosta was able to be far clear of the Yamahas, Hondas, and Aprilias on Saturday and Sunday.

He even battled with Bagnaia early on, and looked a podium contender, but as the race wore on Acosta dropped back.

Not where he wants to be, but Acosta was at least the best of the riders who didn’t have the machinery to win in Aragon.

Franco Morbidelli - 7

A first front row since Misano last year was as good as it got for Franco Morbidelli, who was fourth in the Sprint after cooking his soft-compound rear tyre and fifth in the Grand Prix after beating Fermin Aldeguer in a late battle.

Overall, though, a decent enough weekend for the Italian.

Fermin Aldeguer - 8

The Grand Prix was almost underwhelming for Fermin Aldeguer, finishing sixth after starting seventh and losing out in a late battle with Morbidelli.

But it was only underwhelming because he’d been on the podium on Saturday, having made a savvy decision to go with the medium-compound rear tyre for the 11-lap Sprint.

The young Spaniard continues to impress, and, while he might have started out the season detached from the rest of the Ducatis, by now he’s able to be consistently at a similar level to all of them – with the probable exception of Marc Marquez, who was on a different level to everybody at MotorLand.

Joan Mir - 8

The way Joan Mir’s Honda career has gone, he gets points here for not crashing. Okay, he didn’t finish the Sprint, but even Jack Miller admitted that the blame lay with him, not Mir, for that one.

In the Grand Prix, Mir’s seventh place came after late overtakes on Maverick Vinales and Ducati-mounted Fabio Di Giannantonio, meaning some decent late pace was there for the Honda HRC rider.

Plus, he was much better than Johann Zarco, who was never in contention for a top-10 even before he crashed out.

All round, a very good weekend for Mir.

Marco Bezzecchi - 7

From first to last and back to eighth. That’s been Marco Bezzecchi’s past two weekends in MotoGP.

Arriving in Aragon as the most recent winner, Bezzecchi’s expectations were, if not to repeat the performance of Silverstone, at least slightly raised.

But he blew any chances he had at a good result by crashing on his first lap of Q1 and qualifying on the back row of the grid.

Making the choice to take the medium rear tyre on Saturday was an important one for his impressive comeback from 20th to eighth, and he was able to repeat that on Sunday when everyone else was on the medium rear.

Another weekend of potential better than the results would suggest for Bezzecchi.

Fabio Di Giannantonio - 4

He was the worst Ducati on Sunday and the worst Ducati in qualifying, but Fabio Di Giannantonio was saved slightly in the Sprint by Bagnaia’s disaster and his choice of the medium-compound rear tyre.

18 seconds off the winner is one thing, but it’s another when the winner has the same bike as you.

He was also out-paced by teammate Franco Morbidelli and rookie Fermin Aldeguer all weekend, too.

Raul Fernandez - 6

Out-classed by Marco Bezzecchi on the factory bike, despite the Italian’s qualifying blunder, but a top-10 is something good for Raul Fernandez.

Alex Rins - 6

He finished the race, which is more than can be said of his teammate, but Alex Rins had a pretty underwhelming weekend at the circuit he was victorious at in 2020, finishing only seven seconds ahead of Yamaha’s wildcarding test rider Augusto Fernandez who hadn’t ridden a MotoGP bike in a month before Friday.

Enea Bastianini - 5.5

If Silverstone was the worst race of Enea Bastianini’s career, Aragon was at least a step better.

Augusto Fernandez - 6.5

Augusto Fernandez’s first race as a Yamaha test rider (as in, not as a fill-in) went well. 13th, decent pace, only seven seconds behind Alex Rins in the GP, and three points. All solid enough.

Jack Miller - 5

If Miller’s 14th on Sunday wasn’t disappointing enough on its own, it came after he took Joan Mir out on Saturday.

Of course, it wasn’t an intentional crash with Mir, but a mistake from the Australian nonetheless.

Miguel Oliveira - 5

It was only Miguel Oliveira’s third race back from injury, but finishing behind the test rider is never a great look and at some point the time away from the bike has to stop being a justification for performances that ordinarily would be considered under-par.

Somkiat Chantra - 4

It was not a great weekend for Somkiat Chantra, who beat Lorenzo Savadori in the race, but that’s only notable because he was beaten by the Italian in qualifying.

Lorenzo Savadori - 5

Another weekend of replacing Jorge Martin and another weekend of flying quite acceptably under the radar for the Aprilia test rider.

Maverick Vinales - 6.5

Maverick Vinales was not quite as good as Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder in qualifying on Saturday, and despite having decent pace at times he finished a second behind Acosta in the Sprint.

On Sunday, he was already far behind Acosta when he crashed at turn 12.

He was able to get back on, if only for 18th, but Vinales, in general, was just a step behind the best KTMs in Aragon.

Fabio Quartararo - 6.5

Out of the top-10 in the Sprint, heading that way in the Grand Prix before a crash (that’s three GP DNFs in a row now for Quartararo, his last finish was his podium in Jerez), but Fabio Quartararo was at least able to get Yamaha into Q2 and qualify on the third row.

We know this isn’t a good track for either Yamaha or Quartararo, so surely there must be some optimism that Mugello could be better and perhaps a bit more similar to the performance levels we saw in the previous race.

Johann Zarco - 4.5

After the podium of Silverstone, Aragon was a disappointment for Johann Zarco, who was nowhere near the performance of Joan Mir in the Grand Prix before crashing out and only 16th in the Sprint.

He was at least able to get into Q2 direct from Practice, though, which is impressive considering how much he struggled after that at MotorLand.

Brad Binder - 5

Sometimes it’s just not meant to be, and that’s how it felt for Brad Binder in Aragon.

He qualified on the second row, but sixth place put him on the dirty side of the grid. That meant he blew the start in the Sprint and had to recover to take a point in ninth.

Then, in the Grand Prix, his start was fine, but then he crashed out of fifth while running within sight of the lead.