Ducati disparity highlighted by Austrian MotoGP rider ratings

Ducati has dominated the Red Bull Ring since the Austrian Grand Prix returned to the MotoGP schedule in 2016, but although it won with a 1-2 in the 2025 edition it was a race of difficulty for most of the Desmosedici riders.

Here are the Crash.net rider ratings for the Austrian MotoGP.

Marc Marquez - 9.9

It was an almost perfect weekend from Marc Marquez in Austria, where he finally conquered the Red Bull Ring – ironically while racing there for the first time without sponsorship from the Austrian energy drinks brand that he parted with to join the Ducati Lenovo Team for this season.

Fastest in both practices on Friday, victory in the Sprint, and a calmly controlled victory in the grand prix on Sunday despite the unexpected late pressure from Fermin Aldeguer, this was another example of why Marquez is so hard to beat at the moment and it extended his unbeaten run to six races.

The only blemish on his report card was that crash in qualifying that cost him a front row start – his second Q2 spill in as many rounds.

Fermin Aldeguer - 10

Fermin Aldeguer was pretty under the radar for most of the weekend, and in the Sprint he was only really notable for his wild launch from the line, which he managed well to recover to sixth by the end.

He really lit the grand prix up, though, firstly with his pass on Pedro Acosta between turns 2a and 2b and then with his pursuit of the leaders at the end.

He couldn’t get to Marquez for a maiden MotoGP win, but who has been able to chase down Marc Marquez this year? A truly brilliant ride from the rookie, who was awarded the Rider of the Race fan award quite justifiably.

Marco Bezzecchi - 9

Friday was disastrous for Aprilia and Marco Bezzecchi, but they turned it around on Saturday to take pole, and the Italian rode well on Sunday for the podium.

A win looked possible at times, but Marquez and Aldeguer just proved superior in the late race. But a third podium in four races for Bezzecchi and at a circuit where Aprilia had never before been in the top-three in a grand prix.

Pedro Acosta - 8

With as good as Pedro Acosta was on Friday and Saturday, fourth was slightly disappointing on Sunday, when he never looked likely to stand on the podium once Aldeguer’s pace became apparent.

He was clearly the best KTM rider, though, and it felt like he maximised the package he had.

The Sprint podium, also, was the result of a great ride and some great late management to keep Bezzecchi at bay.

Enea Bastianini - 7

Up-and-down is a general characteristic of Enea Bastianini’s career and it was true of the Austria weekend as well.

He missed Q2 for mistakes at turn four on Friday, got through to Q2 from Q1 on Saturday and then qualified as the best KTM, finished an underwhelming seventh in the Sprint, and then took a kind of scenic route to fifth in the grand prix.

An odd weekend in ways for the Italian but the pace was good – this is an improvement on the majority of the first half of the season.

Joan Mir - 8

Joan Mir finally finished a race in a respectable position. Honda seemed to have made decent summer progress on Friday, but this didn’t quite materialise on Saturday and Sunday. Mir, though, remained the best of them and picking off Francesco Bagnaia at the end must have been of some satisfaction.

Sixth is clearly not where HRC wants to be but it is a solid result for the underpowered RC213V at what is a horsepower-demanding circuit.

Brad Binder - 7

Considering how tough Brad Binder has found the RC16in 2025 so far, his performance in Austria was quite encouraging.

Unfortunately for the South African, more or less the only time he appeared on TV was when he was blowing passes on Francesco Bagnaia, but straight into Q2 and top-10s in both races marks a positive weekend for the KTM rider.

Francesco Bagnaia - 2

After Saturday morning, everything seemed good for Francesco Bagnaia, who had strong pace and good one-lap speed. He might not beat Marc Marquez in the races, but he would surely be a guarantee for the podium if he was able to execute his pace.

This he was unable to do on Saturday afternoon because of an issue with his rear tyre, but on Sunday the race went away in the second half.

Bagnaia’s apparent inability to manage his tyres in 2025 is quite in contrast to previous seasons, when most of his wins came as a result of understanding how to use them.

After such a good weekend until the races, the results of the two Austrian races must be some of the toughest to take this year.

Raul Fernandez - 7

Ninth place for Raul Fernandez marks his seventh top-10 in eight races. It was an impressive run from the under-pressure Spaniard before the summer break, and he has more or less picked up where he left off on the resumption of the season despite Aprilia’s previous difficulties in Austria.

Alex Marquez - 5

Alex Marquez was great all weekend until the grand prix. Front row in qualifying, resuming his usual second place in the Sprint, and although he had the long lap penalty to serve in the grand prix you felt like he could have still been a podium threat given how much the likes of Bezzecchi and Acosta dropped off in the second half of the Sprint.

But, in the end, he was more or less unable to pass after his penalty. It was almost like watching Bagnaia in a Sprint, just locked in place with no way to pass. Very odd from the rider second in the standings – his most underwhelming grand prix of the season so far.

Franco Morbidelli - 4

Franco Morbidelli was anonymous all weekend and generally struggled. Eighth in qualifying and then outside the top-10 in both races at a circuit where Ducati has traditionally dominated.

Between himself, Bagnaia, and Alex Marquez, this was far from the ordinary Ducati experience in Austria, despite the 1-2 at the front.

Johann Zarco - 5

Usually Honda’s best rider in 2025, Johann Zarco was soundly beaten by Joan Mir in Austria. 12th puts him a way behind the Honda HRC Castrol rider in the classification, and add that to his two crashes on Saturday morning and you are not looking at one of Zarco’s best weekends.

Luca Marini - 5

Luca Marini showed really strong pace on Friday and Saturday, similar to Mir’s. But it never carried into the races. He missed Q2, which obviously didn’t help, but he was never able to push forwards in the Sprint or grand prix. A few points in the end for Marini but it felt at times like he could’ve been comfortably in the top-10.

Ai Ogura - 3

Ai Ogura had a similar story to Marini, in a way, finishing 14th in the race after showing decent speed on Friday. To be fair, Ogura’s weekend started going downhill in qualifying when he was 19th, but whichever way you look at it the Japanese rider was not great in the sessions that mattered in Spielberg.

Fabio Quartararo - 3.5

Yamaha had a miserable weekend. Fabio Quartararo was the best of them but scored only one point. Truly disastrous for the Frenchman and the Iwata marque, which showed no positive signs all weekend.

Alex Rins - 3

Stuck with the same underperforming Yamaha as Quartararo, Alex Rins was the only rider to do something different with tyres on Sunday, taking a hard-compound front tyre in contrast to the medium-medium combinations that everyone else ran. It didn’t do much for him, though, finishing 16th and 30 seconds off the win.

Miguel Oliveira - 2

Miguel Oliveira was the third of the four Yamahas that concluded the classified riders in Austria. He beat Jack Miller, but that will hardly be a consolation.

Jack Miller - 2

Last over the line for Jack Miller in Austria. He started well and was in the points battle in the early laps, but was gradually shuffled back, finishing three seconds behind Oliveira in the end.

Fabio Di Giannantonio - 3

Fabio Di Giannantonio started the Sprint well, but he started from 15th after a mediocre qualifying. The Sprint ended in eighth and in complaints about rear tyre vibration; the grand prix ended in a cloud of smoke as he retired with a bike problem from 14th.

After the point-less Brno, this was not the weekend Di Giannantonio needed. The only thing in his favour at the moment is that he is not the only rider struggling on the Desmosedici GP25.

Jorge Martin - 5

After the positivity of the Brno return, Austria was a little more ordinary for Jorge Martin. He was unable to make the same kind of recovery as Bezzecchi on Saturday after he crashed in Practice on Friday afternoon which he admitted cost him confidence.

Another crash in the race was thankfully without major consequence for Martin, who was stuck with the bike as they slid together into the gravel.