When a positive 'turns' negative in MotoGP
The importance of having a strong all-round MotoGP bike highlighted at the 2025 Thai MotoGP.
Ducati may have dominated MotoGP in recent seasons but riders sometimes struggle to name the best thing about the bike, labelling it strong in all areas rather than having a specific ‘knock out’ advantage.
Some even say the rival bikes are actually better in each individual area of performance.
However, Ducati’s all-round ability means that if front or rear grip, for example, is lacking at a particular circuit or point in a race, other areas compensate to keep it at a high level.
The opposite scenario is when a bike relies too heavily on one area of performance to make its lap time. That can mean a bike works brilliantly in some tracks or conditions, but loses too much in others. Hero or zero.
An obvious example would be a bike that boasts class-leading top speed but cannot use it on tight-and-twisty tracks. Or how Honda became too reliant on braking and corner entry to fuel Marc Marquez’s title success.
In the case of the 2025 MotoGP grid, riders from Aprilia and Yamaha have openly praised the front-end of their machines. But as the season-opening Thai event showed, if the front end starts to falter, they can plummet down the order.
An extreme example came from Trackhouse Aprilia team-mates Ai Ogura and Raul Fernandez.
Rookie Ogura felt few issues with his RS-GP and rode to a brilliant fifth in the grand prix, as best non-Ducati, while Fernandez suddenly lost front grip in dirty air and couldn’t even finish the race.
“I was in a really good position and fighting very well… But after 15 laps, when I was in seventh, I tried to catch Jack and for some reason we had overheating in the front tyre,” Fernandez said.
“From this moment on, the front tyre didn’t work and I had to retire because I was 1.5 seconds slower.”
After excelling at the Sepang test, Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo never felt comfortable with the tyres at Buriram and was unable to brake at his usual level.
Pramac Yamaha’s Miguel Oliveira, who finished 16th (Sprint) and 14th (GP) in the season-opener, explained: “As we all know, we ride a lot with the front end of the bike.
“As soon as you don't get the maximum with your riding out of the front of the bike, you're in trouble somehow. Especially on these kinds of tracks where you really need to brake super hard.”
Speaking after the Sprint, the Portuguese added: “I see that what is very positive [about] the bike can become something negative.
“The bike turns quite well, it's very stable on the front. But as soon as you are not able to get that from the tyre, from the front end, if you are a little bit out of the window with the setting, it's really difficult to optimise what the bike has good.
“[We] barely make any time on the acceleration, compared to other bikes. So we must do everything on entry. So [the strong front end] is a plus. But at the same, if you are not there, it becomes really hard for you.”
It was a similar story for Oliveira in the grand prix.
“I got really in trouble with the front grip, couldn't turn the bike, was going wide in every corner [just] when I had the most rear grip,” Oliveira said. “And then the rear dropped lap by lap.
“The tyre came back a little bit for me at the end and I could catch up and get into the points.”
“In the pre-season, everyone starts to dream”
Sunday’s race ended with an all-Ducati top four and Ogura 7.5 seconds from race winner Marc Marquez.
The top Honda was 15 seconds adrift and leading KTM 20 seconds. Oliveira’s team-mate Jack Miller was the top Yamaha in eleventh, over 22 seconds from Marquez after battling a loose fairing.
Asked about the continued Ducati domination, Oliveira smiled:
“In the pre-season, everyone starts to dream and make a lot of plans. But then, first race of the season, when reality comes in, everyone starts to be a little bit more cautious about what they say!
“But it's not the case for me. I knew clearly from the beginning that at this moment they are the leaders. And our job is just to focus on reducing that gap.
“We do have [private] testing days. We now have four bikes. We have shared data between all of us. We have the same spec of bikes. So I think we have every tool that we need to reduce that gap and that should be our only focus at the moment.”
Round two of the season takes place at Termas de Rio Hondo, in Argentina, on March 14-16.
Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
