Struggles for teammates battling over 2026 ride highlighted in Italian MotoGP rider ratings

The Italian MotoGP was Marc Marquez’s first race in Italy as a factory Ducati rider and he utterly dominated it; but further back there were struggles for some riders who could really have done without them.

Marc Marquez - 9.9

An almost perfect weekend for Marc Marquez. 100th pole, 93rd grand prix win in all classes, a dominant Sprint win, absolute command over his teammate at said teammate’s best track, and supremacy at Mugello for the first time as a factory Ducati rider.

Could it have gotten better? Well, no, but he did make that one mistake with the start sequencing in the Sprint so, just to be super-harsh on a rider who has set his standards perhaps above any rider in the four-stroke era of MotoGP, a 9.9 instead of a perfect 10. Hopefully that doesn't ruin the the celebrations.

Alex Marquez - 9

Alex Marquez’s acceptance of and contentment with being second to Marc Marquez only becomes more frustrating as it becomes increasingly clear that he is the closest rider to his brother’s level in MotoGP 2025.

He’s being realistic, and his points total is benefitting for it. It would be nice, from a viewing perspective, if it felt like there was some jeopardy for Marc when Alex is 0.5 second behind him, but nothing this year has suggested that that jeopardy exists.

However, it’s that realism from Marquez, that contentment with second place, which at the moment is set to bank him a silver medal in the World Championship. Logically, you cannot blame him for that.

Fabio Di Giannantonio - 9

This was Fabio Di Giannantonio’s best race weekend of the season. He should’ve been on the podium on Saturday, but was let down as usual by a disappointing qualifying.

He made up for that in the grand prix, hunting down Francesco Bagnaia in the last laps to take a first premier class podium at Mugello.

To achieve that for Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team adds a layer to what was a special for Di Giannantonio.

Francesco Bagnaia - 6.5

Francesco Bagnaia’s polarising season continues. From the depths of 12th in the Aragon Sprint to the euphoria of an unexpected podium one day later; to Mugello where he was second in qualifying, less than a tenth from pole, but unable to contend with the pace of the Marquez brothers in either race, nor Di Giannantonio in the grand prix.

All too often does Bagnaia seem to be the fourth-best Ducati rider this year; almost never has he been one of the two best.

To fall from the podium with two laps to go at a circuit he has won at in each of the past three seasons feels like a milestone moment in Bagnaia’s season. Not the nadir, this was better than Aragon, but it’s still not going well and not showing signs of getting to that point especially soon.

Marco Bezzecchi - 7

A top-five and best-non-Ducati feels like about the best that was possible for Marco Bezzecchi at Mugello. Not the flash of the Aragon Sprint comeback this weekend but solid enough and a decent points haul with sixth in the Sprint as well.

Franco Morbidelli - 4

It was a decent weekend for Franco Morbidelli until the grand prix when he once again made an on-track misjudgement when he cleaned out Maverick Vinales at turn four.

It wasn’t a full T-bone from the Italian but it was far from clean and the long lap penalty was deserved.

He then earned a second long lap when he ran outside the white lines when serving his initial long lap, which added to the mess. He was then able to recover sixth by passing Raul Fernandez, but these kinds of incidents that ruin laps, sessions, or races of other riders remain unacceptably common for Morbidelli.

Raul Fernandez - 7

Q2 and a top-10 in the race for Raul Fernandez marks a strong weekend for the Spanish rider.

It’s hard to read too much into the result, because we’ve seen positivity in the Trackhouse rider’s performances in the past only for him to regress afterwards.

But, taking it in the context of this season, it was undoubtedly a result that should provide some encouragement to Fernandez that he can make progress on the RS-GP.

Pedro Acosta - 5

Having been the best KTM rider for a couple of races in a row, Pedro Acosta slid back behind Maverick Vinales at Mugello.

An apparent inability to make anything softer than the hard-compound front tyre seemed to be the prohibitive characteristic of his weekend, and the Sprint crash seemed to be indicative of his frustration as he ran wide and slid off the side of the tyre.

An anonymous eighth in the grand prix made him the best KTM on paper, but he was clearly slower than Vinales before the Tech3 rider fell victim to Morbidelli.

Brad Binder - 6

Brad Binder’s ninth place in the Italian Grand Prix was made impressive by his lack of data from the Sprint, having crashed at the first corner after contact with Di Giannantonio, plus coming from 15th on the grid.

But, qualifying was disappointing and he, like Acosta, had nothing for Vinales’ pace on the same bike.

Ai Ogura - 7

On Thursday, Ai Ogura said he just wanted bike time, but he ended up the best rookie in the race with top-10 finish. All around, a solid display for the Japanese rider who had been out of action since Silverstone, so hadn’t raced for over a month.

Joan Mir - 4

Honda’s weekend was miserable all around, lacking turning on the throttle, traction out of the final corner, and top speed on the straight. Joan Mir was anticipating a struggle, but he was 22 seconds off the win on Sunday and 11th over the line, a huge margin for a rider who was positive after a seventh at Aragon two weeks ago.

Mir was at least the best of the Hondas in Mugello but this felt like a weekend more similar to the standard of 2024 than that of 2025 for HRC.

Fermin Aldeguer - 6

One point in the Sprint was followed up by a grand prix ruined by an early mistake at turn one for Fermin Aldeguer, who ended 12th in the end.

It was perhaps his worst weekend since Argentina, since when he has generally been in the mix for the top-six.

Miguel Oliveira - 5

Best-placed Yamaha is positive for Miguel Oliveira, especially when he is seemingly in a head-to-head shootout between himself and Jack Miller for the second Pramac seat next year.

On the other hand, beating all the Yamahas on this occasion was only good enough for 13th, which, like Honda, feels like a flashback to 2024.

Fabio Quartararo - 5.5

Fabio Quartararo’s weekend involved physical pain from a partial shoulder dislocation and tyre issues, and ended being beaten by a satellite Yamaha. He was good in qualifying, but the races proved distinctly disappointing for Quartararo who is yet to have the chance to find redemption for his Silverstone heartache.

Alex Rins - 4

Just one place below Fabio Quartararo is decent for Alex Rins in the context of his Yamaha career in general, but he was 15th, the third of the three Yamahas that finished the race, and almost 30 seconds off the win.

Takaaki Nakagami - 5

Takaaki Nakagami replaced Luca Marini at Honda HRC this weekend and as fine enough, just missing the points in the grand prix and finishing a comfortable seven seconds ahead of Aprilia’s long-standing fill-in Lorenzo Savadori.

Lorenzo Savadori - 5

Savadori himself was 17th and a place ahead of Somkiat Chantra, which continues his solid season of replacing Jorge Martin without adding to the negative chaos surrounding Aprilia’s season.

Somkiat Chantra - 3

Somkiat Chantra was last, not something new, but 30 seconds behind Savadori, which is almost unacceptably far. What goes in Chantra's favour on this occasion is his double long lap penalty for an incorrect start procedure after he was late leaving the grid for the warm-up lap, but that does not cover his 30-second gap to Savadori.

Jack Miller - 2

Jack Miller was 16th in the Sprint, and only one place better than that when he pulled into the pits with a reported clutch issue.

The Australian couldn’t get out of Q1, either, which is notable this weekend because, unusually, Yamaha’s one-lap competitiveness was much better than over a race distance.

All of this comes when Oliveira was finishing as best Yamaha and the Australian is trying to secure himself a ride for 2026.

Maverick Vinales - 6.5

It was bad luck for Maverick Vinales to get taken out by Franco Morbidelli. He did nothing wrong, but it cost him a lot of points – and maybe a podium.

Fourth place in the Sprint seems like an even bigger missed opportunity after Sunday’s events, since Vinales seemed faster than Bagnaia in the closing laps of the half-distance race.

On the positive side, Vinales was back to the kind of form he showed in Qatar and Spain where he was comfortably KTM’s best rider.

Johann Zarco - 4

Only one of Johann Zarco’s crashes was his fault, but like all the Honda riders he was unable to make much impression on the weekend.

Enea Bastianini - 4

Enea Bastianini looked at times to be riding quite well at Mugello, but then he qualified 16th and finished the race in the gravel after a lap one crash. Things continue to be difficult aboard the RC16 for the Italian.