Australian MotoGP: Home hero Jack Miller tops FP1, Francesco Bagnaia overcomes shaky start

Home hero Jack Miller topped opening practice for the 2025 Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island, fitting fresh rubber at the end of the session to edge Alex Marquez by just 0.036s on Friday morning.

Miller’s new tyres put him ahead of long-time leader Marquez. The Gresini rider switched from a used soft to new medium front, but kept the same medium rear throughout.

2025 Australian MotoGP, Phillip Island - Friday Practice Results

Looking to lock down second in the world championship behind absent brother Marc, Alex emerged unscathed from a scary moment at Turn 1 when he clipped the back wheel of Miguel Oliveira.

The incident was put under investigation, presumably to check if Oliveira had slowed irresponsibly, with 'no further action' taken.

KTM’s Pedro Acosta, Gresini’s Mandalika winner Fermin Aldeguer and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo were fastest of the riders to keep the same set of tyres (soft front, medium rear) throughout FP1.

Marco Bezzecchi, who needs a serve a double long lap penalty on Sunday for clashing with Marc Marquez at Mandalika, set the early pace for Aprilia on his way to sixth, fitting a new soft front for his final run.

Bagnaia turns around shaky start

Francesco Bagnaia’s weekend got off to a shaky start, literally, with the factory Ducati rider pulling straight back into the pits and gesturing angrily that his GP25 was - once again - shaking violently.

The Italian offered the same verdict with even more intensity after his next run, prompting team manager Davide Tardozzi to walk away in frustration.

However, Bagnaia - the only rider other than Tech3 stand-in Pol Espargaro to start on the medium rather than soft front tyre - was later able to pick up his pace substantially.

Bagnaia briefly cracked the top four on his way to a close seventh (+0.275s) after keeping the same set of medium tyres throughout.

Johann Zarco also didn’t switch rubber on his way to being the top Honda rider in eighth, in a session that saw HRC’s Joan Mir pull off track with smoke pouring from the upper exhaust of his RC213V.

VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio and KTM’s Brad Binder, who led the session early on, completed the top ten.

Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez, in eleventh, with the next-best rider after Miller to fit new tyres front and rear for his last run of the morning.

However, no rider has yet used the hard front tyre, which was the overwhelming choice in both of last year's races.

Franco Morbidelli was the first faller of the weekend, at Turn  1.

Practice, which will decide direct access to Saturday's Qualifying 2, starts at 3pm local time.