MotoGP rookie of the year Fermin Aldeguer “thought I wasn’t ready” at start of season

Fermin Aldeguer has revealed some of the personal doubts he had before the 2025 MotoGP season after being crowned rookie of the year.

Aldeguer’s season started in relative anonymity, but strong pace in the third race of the season in Texas, before a crash, was a sign of things to come.

The Murcian, who started the season still a teenager but has since turned 20-years-old, would go on to take his first Sprint podium at Le Mans, and his first grand prix podium a day later; in Austria he emerged as late race threat to Marc Marquez; and then in Indonesia he became the first rookie winner in MotoGP since Brad Binder in 2020.

Two races later, the rookie of the year title is Aldeguer’s after the Malaysian MotoGP Sprint.

“I’m super-happy because it was one of our first goals and maybe the most important goal, to be rookie of the year,” Fermin Aldeguer told MotoGP.com after the Sepang Sprint.

“We have our little championship and it’s funny to win this championship but, to be honest, until Australia I wasn’t thinking about this, I was [thinking] for more because we did an incredible season – we are doing an incredible season. 

“I have to say thanks to all my people. I know that all these people enjoy more than me, but we have to continue like this.”

Although Aldeguer has ended up a winner in his rookie year and first among the first-years, he had his doubts at the beginning.

“To be honest, in February, in the first race, I thought that maybe I wasn’t ready to be a MotoGP rider because other rookies start better than me,” Aldeguer said.

“I was a little bit far [from] the top riders, but all the team, we believed in myself, we believe in our potential, and I think we can’t do too much more.

“But, to be honest, I learnt a lot this year. It’s perfect for the rest of my career.”

Aldeguer crossed the line third in the Sprint, one place behind his Gresini Racing teammate Alex Marquez, although he felt he had the potential to do more without a bad start.

“It was a difficult race,” he said. “More the start, because I lost some positions. 

“After, I fight a lot with Joan [Mir], he was very fast with a new tyre, but I had something more. But I had to find the place to overtake and not do a mistake. 

“When I overtook Pedro [Acosta] I started to do my pace. Maybe today we had a little bit more than this third position, but more experience and tomorrow we have another chance.”

Third over the line but not in the classification for the Spaniard, who was penalised eight seconds after the race for breaching tyre pressure rules.

He explained that his front tyre pressure alarm was not working correctly from the start of the race, which led him to not treat the warnings it gave him with the necessary attention.

“During the race, I looked at the alarm, I [saw that] the sensor of the pressure doesn’t work,” he said. 

“I don’t know. I was super-close to the other riders, I tried to [increase] the pressure, but I thought all the time that the problem was from a sensor – not for the pressure of the tyre.”

Aldeguer’s penalty did not impact his crowning as rookie of the year, but it did mean that he loses his Sprint podium in the stats sheet. That now goes to Pedro Acosta, who has five for the season now.