How Raul Fernandez went from underperformer to MotoGP race winner

Despite several challenging seasons in MotoGP, Raul Fernandez has always had the support of his bosses Massimo Rivola and Davide Brivio. When results weren’t going his way last year, both Rivola and Brivio kept their faith in him, and offered him a new two-year contract through 2026.

However, when Fernandez only came away with a sixth-place result in Indonesia earlier this month, despite Aprilia clearly having the fastest bike in the field, even Rivola couldn’t hide his disappointment.

“If he was in the front, together with [race winner] Fermin [Aldeguer], he had the pace to stay with him,” Rivola, Aprilia Racing CEO, said after the race.

“He didn’t find the place to attack and overtake. When he tried, it was a bit like that, and he didn’t do it in a clean way.  

“P6 is a good result, but according to the performance he could have had, a podium could be something to expect, considering that the speed in free air was really good.”

Indonesia may have been a missed opportunity, but Fernandez didn’t squander any chances the second time as he romped to victory in the Australian Grand Prix. He bravely fought against Pedro Acosta and dispatched him early on, avoiding the kind of mid-race scrap that cost him dearly in Mandalika.

It’s important to note that, even in Indonesia, Fernandez had gained confidence from his podium in the sprint race — his first in any format in MotoGP. For a rider with the challenges he faced in 2025, this was a crucial turning point.

After breaking a bone yet again during pre-season testing, Fernandez began the year firmly on the back foot. Following the opening eight rounds, he sat a distant 19th in the championship with just 25 points to his name. To make matters worse, rookie Ai Ogura was completely outperforming him on the other side of the garage, scoring almost twice as many points and even achieving a top-five finish on debut.

Fernandez has spoken candidly about the personal toll this period took on him, as questions began to mount over his future in MotoGP.

“I wasn’t happy,” he said. “Things weren’t working out, and I couldn’t even get up in the morning with a smile on my face.”

Fernandez and Trackhouse continued to work on their issues, with the in-season tests at Jerez and Aragon giving him the time and support needed to make the progress required to rebound in MotoGP.

“I made a very big mistake at the beginning of the season when I crashed in Sepang and I was injured,” he explained. “My comeback was quite soon and it didn’t help to create the bike set-up. 

“The big change is we had some tests in the middle of the season, that we had time to work on ourselves, and we found something that helped me to ride the bike better.”

If Fernandez’s early 2025 struggles were isolated, it wouldn’t have been so much of a problem. But they were a part of a broader pattern of underachievement in MotoGP.

His rookie season on Tech3 KTM was never going to set the world alight, but his move to what was then the RNF team in 2024 should have boosted his fortunes. However, he ended up finishing 20th in the championship, four spots behind team-mate Miguel Oliveira, with a shock fifth-place finish in the Valencia finale being the only standout result of the year.

In 2024, he showed flashes of pace, qualifying on the front row in both the Catalan and German rounds and leading the Barcelona sprint race until crashing. But a mid-season change to the latest-spec Aprilia backfired, and he wound up 16th in the championship with just 15 more points than he scored in the previous season.

Trackhouse team principal Brivio explained how Fernandez focused on physical conditioning over the winter, but needed time to regain the confidence required to fight at the front in 2025.

“He’s a great talent,” Brivio told MotoGP.com. “You only need to fix [a few things], to believe in yourself, to be concentrated on the work, to try to find the working system, how to work in a garage, giving importance to the important things, to be concentrated and focused on what counts.

“The beginning of this season was quite tough. We were struggling to score points, but then we kept talking and trying to see what we can improve. 

“He also worked a lot during the winter on his physical preparation, which was a little bit lacking last year.

“Then we started to be in a top 10 position at Le Mans. Then we started to say, ‘let’s try to get in the top seven’, but then he jumped suddenly on a podium in these last two weekends.

“I’m happy because he can show his talent. He showed how he can also be intelligent and good at managing races.

“He came here very excited after Mandalika, with the podium. So he probably grew his confidence.”

Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing

Photo by: William West — AFP — Getty Images

Rivola echoed this sentiment, emphasising that he never had any doubt about Fernandez’s talent or speed.

After all, the Spaniard won eight races and scored 12 podiums in his sole season in Moto2 before stepping up to the premier class.

“I don’t think we need to argue about the talent level of Raul,” he said. “What we need to argue is the way he was working. Now with Davide and also with [Aprilia technical director] Fabiano [Sterlacchini] helping, he has people he can trust. 

“That is very, very important. So I’m really looking forward to see the next three races.”

Aprilia has high expectations for the 24-year-old. With Jorge Martin still sidelined due to injury and Ai Ogura only returning from his own crash in Australia last weekend, Rivola is pinning his hopes on Bezzecchi and Fernandez in the final stretch of the year.

“I’m very curious to go to Sepang to see Raul’s reaction,” he said. We saw Marco [Bezzecchi] after the victory in Silverstone, he was the rider to score the most points after Marc [Marquez]. He had a sort of click. 

“Now I’m curious to see if Raul is satisfied with that [result] or getting more angry. I hope it’s the second one, because when you start feeling the smell of the podiums, you find something more, and that is the best way to grow. 

“I would love to see both Marco and Raul fighting for podiums.”

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— The Motorsport.com Team