Two podiums but a tough weekend for beleaguered Pecco Bagnaia | Thai MotoGP Rider Ratings

Marquez domination, Yamaha turmoil, and struggles for Francesco Bagnaia – the 2025 MotoGP Thai Grand Prix provided a fascinating season opener, and an opportunity to give 22 overheated riders a definitely-not-arbitrary score out of 10.

Marc Marquez - 10

Pole, Sprint win, Grand Prix win, 37-point maximum for Marc Marquez. I don’t know what more you want. He was better than everyone else, and didn’t make any mistakes.

He was going to get a 9.9, losing 0.1 of a mark because his team (it is a team sport) made a mistake when deciding his tyre pressure. But after the race he explained that his tyre pressure dropped because he was riding within himself, which he was only doing because he was so much better than everyone else that he had margin to fall into in order to avoid risk, and so for that somewhat unintentional display of supremacy he gains that 0.1 of a mark back.

15-time AMA National Champion and current AMA Supercross television commentator Ricky Carmichael often says “If you don’t like it, you better get used to it,” when a rider wins a race and he expects them to win a lot more of them. That’s where Marquez is this year – there’s a lot of winning ahead of him.

So, some advice: if you don’t like watching Marc Marquez win MotoGP races, try to learn to.

Alex Marquez - 9.5

Being beaten in two races by the same rider is usually a cause for frustration, but that is reduced when the rider you were beaten by is Marc Marquez, and more so when you are his brother.

That was Alex Marquez’s weekend: better than everyone apart from Marc Marquez. It’s hard to complain too much about that.

Yes, he led for 15 laps, but that was artificial because of the tyre pressure farce and Marc’s desire to not incur a 16-second penalty. So, you can’t say he bottled the win, or that he should’ve done more to try and keep the lead, because it was never really his.

As Marquez himself mentioned many times this weekend, second place was his maximum, and he achieved that in all three of the meaningful sessions.

Francesco Bagnaia - 6

It’s probably a sign of how good Francesco Bagnaia has been over the past five years that two third places get him only a six. There are even contributing factors to why Bagnaia was only third in qualifying and in both races, such as his uncomfortability with the smaller fuel tank used for Sprints that has been an issue for two seasons now, and the delays to his schedule that stretch back to the first day in Thailand two weeks ago at the preseason test.

But the reality is that Bagnaia has not had a weekend where he was plain worse than his teammate – all weekend – since the second third of his first season as a factory Ducati rider in 2021.

Of course, being teammate to Marc Marquez is a fairly particular situation given the aforementioned abilities of Marquez that this weekend reminded us of, but Bagnaia’s achievements mean that his standards don’t changed based on other riders – he’s set them himself, and this weekend he was below them, by his own admission.

Franco Morbidelli - 7

Franco Morbidelli rode great this weekend. It was a follow on from his testing performance which was also very positive.

Coming into the year, it seemed certain that this could well be Morbidelli’s last in MotoGP, given he was consistently the least competitive of the factory Ducati riders last year. But 5-4 to start the season is a clear sign that Morbidelli has made improvements over the winter, especially given that his fourth in the long race came from ninth on the grid.

The reason Morbidelli gets only a seven is because of the reason he started ninth for the GP, which is that he blocked Francesco Bagnaia in Practice.

There were other riders going slow in front of Morbidelli at the time he impeded Bagnaia, but the frequency with which he disturbs other riders on-track is just too high. It’s also gone on long enough for it to become increasingly believable that it’s an issue Morbidelli has that won’t ever be fully resolved.

It feels like a more unfortunate trait for a rider to have when they produce strong performances like Morbidelli’s this weekend.

Ai Ogura - 9

‘Surprised’ has been a word mentioned in relation to Ai Ogura throughout preseason testing, because the Japanese rider has generally out-performed the expectations placed on him this year.

I’m not entirely sure why, to be honest, given that Ogura has been one of the most promising riders to come out of the Asia Talent Cup; that he fought for the Moto3 title in his second season; that he fought for the Moto2 title in his second season; that he’s the reigning Moto2 World Champion; and that he won that Moto2 title in his first season on a Boscoscuro and in the first year on Pirelli tyres.

Clearly Ogura is a talented rider, even if he was fairly modest about his own ‘natural’ ability after his World Champion’s press conference at the end of last year’s Thai Grand Prix, and is able to adapt to new scenarios quickly. So, exactly why there is so much ‘surprise’ about Ogura turning out to be actually not that bad at riding a motorcycle is quite confusing.

Anyway, however good Ogura has seemed to be, it is nonetheless outstanding that he has had the best rookie weekend since Marc Marquez’s debut at Qatar in 2013. And that’s what he’s done by finishing fourth in the Sprint and fifth in the Grand Prix.

He was great all weekend, and not only the best Aprilia rider but also the best non-Ducati rider in the Sprint and the Grand Prix.

Marco Bezzecchi - 7

Marco Bezzecchi crashed twice in Thailand, and it was the second that really conditioned his weekend, because it happened in Q2.

He started ninth for the Sprint, and eighth in the Grand Prix. His Sprint was then destroyed by spinning on the grid, which left him 17th at the end of the first lap before he recovered to 12th.

Then, the Grand Prix saw him slip slightly backwards again, but by keeping himself in contention he was able to take advantage of Raul Fernandez’s demise, Joan Mir’s crash, and Fabio Di Giannantonio’s decline. Then he passed Jack Miller for sixth, and in general that marked quite a solid ride.

Sure, he was beaten by a rookie on the same bike comfortably – twice – but particularly in the Grand Prix Bezzecchi found himself stuck in a group while Ogura escaped with the leaders.

That doesn’t mean Bezzecchi could’ve beaten Ogura – maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t have – if he had a better qualifying, but the point is his potential was limited by his qualifying, which was worse than it might’ve been without that ill-timed fall.

So, the potential is there for Bezzecchi, he just needs to put together the pieces.

Johann Zarco - 8.5

It’s really difficult to rate Johann Zarco’s weekend because somehow he was almost invisible all weekend. But once again he was the best Honda rider, maintaining a pace better than Luca Marini, about equal to Joan Mir, but then critically not crashing when Mir did.

Like Bezzecchi, Zarco took advantage of Mir’s fall and ended up seventh, only 0.3 seconds behind Bezzecchi, and once again be Honda’s best rider.

If Honda is making technical progress with its RC213V, it’s certainly LCR’s Zarco who seems most able to take advantage of that.

Brad Binder - 6

8-8 for Brad Binder doesn’t seem so bad, but he didn’t have the speed of his Red Bull KTM teammate Pedro Acosta, and he was caught at the end of the Grand Prix by Tech3’s Enea Bastianini, who we’ll come onto.

There’s no doubt that KTM are struggling, or at least that they are in the ultimately quite specific conditions of Buriram at the beginning of March, so it’s hard to be too harsh on Binder.

But Binder is without a win since 2021, and each of the past three seasons have seen him start well and slip, as the season has progressed, deeper into midfield obscurity (barring some standout rides at Valencia in 2022 and 2023, and in Thailand in 2023).

But now Binder is starting out as that midfield guy, and it almost feels like that’s what he’s becoming, even if – rationally speaking – we know he’s better than that.

That he was top-KTM at least indicates he got all he could out of the RC16 package.

Enea Bastianini - 5.5

Enea Bastianini’s weekend is pure insanity. The guy won the Sprint in Thailand in October last year, and was 27 seconds slower over the 13 laps this weekend. Then, he’s ninth in the GP and all of 0.124 seconds behind Binder at the flag.

It was a remarkable turnaround for Bastianini on Sunday, but if the weekend ended on Saturday he’d be getting a one on this (extremely important) list.

It’s hard to know what to make of Bastianini now. Before it was clear: he was in dire trouble and the whole season was destined for misery. Now, less so, because the GP gave cause for optimism and hope.

With time patterns will be established and we’ll better understand where Bastianini is, but this has been one of the most confusing weekends I can remember for a rider.

Fabio Di Giannantonio - 6

Like with Binder, it’s hard to be too critical of Fabio Di Giannantonio when the guy is so fresh from surgery and injury that he’s barely done a workout since he crashed at the Sepang test at the beginning of February.

Presumably the depleted physical condition Di Giannantonio was competing with this weekend was a factor in his retirement on Saturday, which was because the bike got too hot for him to continue riding.

Sunday looked a bit better for him and he managed a top-10, and it’s really hard to say exactly how impressive that is because only he knows how his body has felt in what has been his first MotoGP race in four months.

We’ll see where Di Giannantonio is when he’s recovered some more of his fitness, but you’d think 10th place hasn’t been on his winter wishlist.

Jack Miller - 7

Jack Miller was the best Yamaha on Friday and in qualifying, which was impressive. But he crashed in the Sprint and faded to 11th in the GP, which was less so.

He started well on Sunday and was sixth for a while, but after a few laps he turned into something of a road block with fading grip, not helped by a loose fairing that he had to manually hold in on the straights.

Then, the Yamaha is rarely the best bike to be riding when you’re on the defence.

Perhaps the lasting memory of this weekend for Miller, though, will be that speed – at least until we get to Argentina.

Luca Marini - 5

12th for Luca Marini matches his best result for Honda, but the reality is that Honda has moved on. Joan Mir and Johann Zarco both had top-10 potential this weekend, and Marini just didn’t.

Fermin Aldeguer - 6

13th was probably not the debut Fermin Aldeguer was dreaming of, and being 17 seconds behind Ai Ogura at the end of the first Grand Prix was probably not what most people were expecting from him, either.

He didn’t crash, he finished both races, and his Q1 performance was fairly promising even if he missed out on Q2.

But the speed, in general, was fairly underwhelming, because, rookie or not, he is on at least the second-best bike on the grid.

Miguel Oliveira - 4

It was a poor weekend for Yamaha, and Miguel Oliveira having positive sides to a 14th is proof of that.

Fabio Quartararo - 3

One of Oliveira’s positive points was that he beat Fabio Quartararo in the Grand Prix, the Frenchman finishing 15th. He struggled with grip and implied there could have been a tyre problem, but ultimately it was a result far below the 2021 World Champion’s expectations.

Maverick Vinales - 3

Maverick Vinales has been opposite to his Tech3 teammate, Enea Bastianini, in adapting to the KTM. Bastianini has delivered at least one good result having said all winter that he was struggling, whereas Vinales has spoken positively about the bike all through preseason, and then delivered 14-16 results on the first weekend.

No points, and he was battling in the first half of the race with Somkiat Chantra. With all due respect to the Thai rookie, Vinales should be further up the road than LCR Honda’s newest recruit.

Alex Rins - 3

Another Yamaha and another struggle. 17-17 for Alex Rins, whose leg was burned to such an extent in the Grand Prix that it prevented him from riding as he wanted. He at least felt he made progress on corner entry in the Sunday race, but a 17th despite that progress is a sign of where he seems to be – but it is only round one, a caveat relevant to all this weekend, of course.

Somkiat Chantra - 6

Coming into the season, there was genuine concern about Somkiat Chantra who struggled significantly in testing as he adapted to MotoGP. 

But his first race went quite well. 

He finished last of the riders who didn’t crash, but he was only 31 seconds off the win and far from detached from the field. There were even flashes of speed at moments in practice, and so Chantra can leave Buriram knowing that he is a MotoGP rider, not just a motorcycle racer who happens to ride a MotoGP bike.

Pedro Acosta - 4

19th for Pedro Acosta in the Grand Prix included a crash, which is sort of something he’s supposed to have sorted out for this year.

It’s hard to say if it’s positive or negative that he crashed out when there wasn’t an especially good result on offer, anyway. He was ninth when he crashed at turn one on lap four, and maybe he would’ve gotten to sixth – where he finished the Sprint – with Bezzecchi by the end, but for a rider who wants to win it can’t have been a weekend that delivered much satisfaction.

Lorenzo Savadori - 6

Filling in for Jorge Martin this weekend, the main thing for Lorenzo Savadori to do was not crash. He achieved that, and was therefore able to do some additional work for Aprilia. It was the job of Raul Fernandez, Bezzecchi, and Ogura to deliver the results this weekend, and at least two of them managed that.

So, last, but acceptably so for Savadori.

Joan Mir - 5

A point in the Sprint was the hope for Joan Mir, and he looked set for another top-10 in the Grand Prix before he, you guessed it, crashed out. It just seems to be what he does at this point, only now he’s throwing away more points when he falls than he was throwing away last year.

Raul Fernandez - 4

Raul Fernandez was somewhat embarrassed by his rookie teammate this year, and didn’t finish the GP because his front tyre overheated when he caught Jack Miller. He did show some decent speed, though, and was having a solid race before his front tyre issues and subsequent retirement.