Ranked: Every MotoGP rider at half-way stage of 2024 season

Last weekend’s British Grand Prix marked the halfway point of the 2024 MotoGP season, with 10 rounds down and 10 left to run.

The 2024 MotoGP title battle stands on a knife-edge at this stage of the campaign, with just three points splitting Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia at the top of the order.

Ducati has once again been the reference manufacturer, with six of its eight-rider stable making podium appearances this year and its recent British Grand Prix victory marking a record seventh-successive podium lockout for the brand.

It’s also clearly taken a step forward from its rivals, with only Aprilia able to beat Ducati to a single grand prix win in 2024 and two sprint victories.

Further down the order, KTM has failed to make much progress with its RC16, though rookie sensation Pedro Acosta has managed to get the bike to the podium twice in grands prix, while Brad Binder has added one more to that tally.

Very much in a rebuilding phase, both Yamaha and Honda languish at the bottom of the manufacturers’ standings, with 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo proving so far to be the best of the Japanese bike riders so far.

As the second half of the 2024 campaign gets under way, we rank the riders’ and manufacturers’ seasons so far.

We have grouped the riders by manufacturer and assigned a grade based not just on results, but have also taken into account mitigating circumstances such as bike spec and expectations.

Ducati

• 8 riders

• Best GP result - 1st

• Best sprint result - 1st

• Best qualifying - 1st

• Championship - 1st (352 points)

#1 Francesco Bagnaia - Ducati Corse. Grade: B+

The reigning double world champion really ought to be scoring an A grade halfway through 2024, but it has been a season of too many ups and downs for Bagnaia.

Mistake-prone through his 2022 and 2023 title-winning campaigns, he has suffered five non-scores across GPs and sprints this season. After crashing out of the lead of the sprint in Barcelona, he was 44 points off the championship lead. What followed was a brilliant run of GP wins in Barcelona, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany to take a 10-point lead into the summer break.

But a crash out of the sprint at the British GP and lack of pace in the main race has lost him the lead again.

When at his best, Bagnaia remains unrivalled on that factory Ducati. But he is still making too many costly mistakes.

#23 Enea Bastianini - Ducati Corse. Grade: B

Bastianini’s grade would have been a step lower at this stage of the campaign had it not been for his resurgence in form at the Italian GP, when it became clear he would have no place in Ducati for 2025.

Podiums at Mugello, Assen and a double victory to add to his early-season rostrums at Portimao and COTA have thrust him into title contention now, with just 49 points separating him from leader Jorge Martin.

An injury-plagued 2023 stopped him from adapting to the GP23, and it was clear from the off that the GP24’s braking characteristics suited his style more. The brief form dip across the Spanish, French and Catalan GPs stunted his momentum from the opening rounds.

Silverstone proved Bastianini’s title credentials, but his consistency remains a question mark.

#89 Jorge Martin - Pramac Racing. Grade: B+

Martin’s departure from Ducati at the end of the 2024 season is a big loss to the manufacturer. From the off this season it was clear he would be a much stiffer challenger to Bagnaia’s throne than he was in 2023.

But like Bagnaia, critical mistakes have struck at bad times. Crashing out of the lead of the Spanish and German GPs opened the door for chief rival Bagnaia to take victory, and it’s a big part in why his strong form in 2024 has only given him a three-point championship lead at the halfway stage.

Overall, though, the pair have been evenly matched and Martin’s ability to brush off is Germany crash to score a brace of second-place finishes ahead of Bagnaia at Silverstone showed his true resolve.

#21 Franco Morbidelli - Pramac Racing. Grade: D-

Morbidelli’s first season on the 2024-spec Ducati is a hard one to judge because he missed the entire pre-season after suffering a concussion in a training incident in Portugal.

Desperately needing time to understand the bike and also rebuild his confidence as a rider following his miserable stint on the factory Yamaha, we haven’t seen the best of Morbidelli yet.

There have been flashes of speed, like his ride to sixth at Mugello and his run in the lead at the Sachsenring before ending up fifth. But they have been too few so far. Last of the Ducatis in 12th in the standings, Morbidelli is fortunate to be holding onto a grid slot in 2025.

#93 Marc Marquez - Gresini Racing. Grade: B

The eight-time world champion’s first season on the 2023-spec Ducati has been one of the biggest stories of the year.

Clearly, he’s found his mojo again after the final few miserable years on the factory Honda. Fourth on the opening night of the season in Qatar gave way to back-to-back sprint podiums before he got his first GP rostrum in Spain after a mega duel with Bagnaia.

Rides from outside of the top 12 to podiums in France, Barcelona and Germany stunned, but qualifying has been average - with Marquez scoring only one pole and two other front rows.

Adapting to the GP23 from track-to-track is also proving trickier than expected and the year-old package is starting to show its age against the GP24s.

He’s still in the hunt for the title, but he needs to make a step in the last 10 races to be a serious threat.

#73 Alex Marquez - Gresini Racing. Grade: C-

The younger Marquez brother in many ways paved the way for Marc’s switch to Gresini Ducati for 2024, having done the same last year and performed solidly.

Alex Marquez hasn’t shown quite the same form he did last year, but a podium in the German GP proved his capacity for big results on occasion.

Consistency on Sundays keeps him in the top 10 in the standings and sixth overall Ducati, but he too needs to step up in the second half of the season.

#49 Fabio Di Giannantonio - VR46 Racing. Grade: B

Di Giannantonio was looking to be out of a ride for 2024 even before Marc Marquez entered the picture at Gresini. His late-season surge last year led to the grand prix win in Qatar that ultimately earned him a GP23 at VR46.

Very much an outsider in that VR46 stable, the group has accepted him as its own and he’s rewarded it with a suitably excellent season so far.

While the podium has been out of reach in the first 10 rounds, Di Giannantonio is the second-best GP23 runner now behind only Marc Marquez and has scored points in all but one GP, putting him eighth in the standings.

He’s even trounced highly-rated team-mate Marco Bezzecchi, who fought for the title last year, and has earned himself a factory bike at VR46 for 2025 having been a hot prospect on the rider market.

#72 Marco Bezzecchi - VR46 Racing. Grade: C-

Bezzecchi’s decision to remain with VR46 on an old Ducati instead of taking a factory one at Pramac for 2024 was lauded at the time as being a mature move from the young Italian.

But it’s hard to imagine him not ruing that now. Strong on the GP22 last year to win three grands prix and fight for the championship until the latter stages of the campaign, that form has all but deserted him on the GP23.

Battling with much of the same engine braking and understeer problems Bastianini faced on the bike last year, Bezzecchi has scaled the podium once.

Tied on points with Morbidelli, Bezzecchi will want a happier final 10 races to begin his journey with Aprilia with some confidence.

Aprilia

• 4 riders

• Best GP result - 1st

• Best sprint result - 1st

• Best qualifying - 1st

• Championship - 2nd (192 points)

#12 Maverick Vinales - Aprilia Factory Racing. Grade: B-

The 2024 season seemed like a make or break year for Vinales, having failed to deliver much on the Aprilia since joining the marque midway through 2021.

Initially not gelling with the 2024 RS-GP in the winter, Vinales and his crew made a breakthrough for the Portuguese GP in which he won the sprint and was on course to finish on the podium on Sunday before a gearbox issue thwarted him late on.

Everything came good in America when he won the sprint and brushed off a horrendous start in which he dropped to 11th to score a long-awaited 10th grand prix victory.

Vinales has only seen the podium in two sprints since and hasn’t cracked the top 10 since Assen, though sits fifth in the points.

That’s largely down to an Aprilia package that has been struggling to manage its tyres of late, with Vinales noting at the British GP that the bike has “lowered its potential”.

#41 Aleix Espargaro - Aprilia Factory Racing. Grade: C+

The veteran Spaniard’s last season in MotoGP has been solid, but the dip in form the Aprilia has suffered has stopped him scaling the double grand prix race-winning heights of 2023.

Espargaro is still able to show he can be the fastest Aprilia rider on occasion. A win at the Catalan GP in the sprint after Bagnaia’s crash was followed by a fourth in the GP, having encountered the RS-GP’s tyre management problems late on.

Two poles back up his pace, but no Sunday podium has hurt his grading here, with injury-forced absences at Assen and the Sachsenring undoubtedly stunting his Barcelona momentum.

#88 Miguel Oliveira - Trackhouse Racing. Grade: D

Since moving to Aprilia with the RNF squad for 2023 before Trackhouse took over in 2024, Oliveira has struggled to replicate the race-winning form he showed across his stint with KTM.

Taking a while to adapt to the 2024 RS-GP and still not fully happy at the halfway stage, he has little to show for his efforts.

Flashes of speed netted him a front row start in Germany, which he converted to second in the sprint and sixth in the grand prix.

But they have been too irregular for a rider of his calibre.

#25 Raul Fernandez - Trackhouse Racing. Grade: D+

Fernandez’ time with Aprilia has followed much of the same pattern as Oliveira’s, though the 2021 Moto2 runner-up has been at something of a disadvantage for most of 2024 as the only rider on the 2023 RS-GP.

Just as his seat at Trackhouse for 2025 looked under threat, Fernandez led the Barcelona sprint before crashing out and converted a front row start to solid sixth.

That’s the best it has gotten so far for Fernandez, though he’s clearly shown enough to secure a two-year contract with Trackhouse.

His race debut on the 2024-spec RS-GP (albeit fitted with the 2023 engine, as per the rules) offered no clues as to the direction he could head in the final 10 races as he crashed on the first lap of the British GP.

KTM

• 4 riders

• Best GP result - 2nd

• Best sprint result - 2nd

• Best qualifying - 2nd

• Championship - 3rd (178 points)

#33 Brad Binder - KTM Factory Racing. Grade: C

KTM has clearly not made the inroads into its rivals it threatened to across a solid 2023 campaign, but Binder remains a consistent force for the Austrian brand.

Kicking off the 2024 season with a brace of seconds in Qatar, Binder hasn’t quite been able to get to the rostrum again but has managed points on all but on Sunday. He’s also the only KTM rider so far to ended every round in the points in either of the races.

The arrival of rookie sensation Acosta will force the world to reckon with just how good Binder is, but he’s not crumbled under this pressure while fighting to get the RC16 into a much more competitive shape.

#43 Jack Miller - KTM Factory Racing. Grade: D-

Miller’s likeable personality and no-nonsense PR approach make him a firm fan favourite. And to be fair to him, how KTM has treated him this year in relation to its 2025 plans - when it told him not to speak to anyone else as it intended to keep him in the family before ultimately ejecting him - was not what a four-time grand prix winner deserves.

That said, Miller has struggled on the KTM this year and 42 points after 10 rounds with just a best of fifth in Portugal and no other top 10 on his scoresheet simply isn’t good enough for someone of his calibre.

He has eluded to the fact his feedback about the Ducati he previously rode has been taken onboard, but new items haven’t been as forthcoming as they should be with this information.

Acosta’s arrival into the KTM stable coinciding with Miller’s struggles hasn’t helped his case and it appears no matter what he does in the final 10 races will save him a place on the 2025 MotoGP grid.

#31 Pedro Acosta - Tech3 GASGAS. Grade: B

There was never any doubting that Acosta’s arrival into MotoGP in 2024 wasn’t going to produce some fireworks.

Despite the hype, he’s gone about his business maturely, scoring grand prix podiums in Portugal and America, and sprint rostrums in Spain, Barcelona and Italy.

While the podiums have dropped away since then, Acosta is still top KTM in the standings.

The prospect of him scoring more podiums, and maybe even a first win, remains high but that will depend on how much more pace KTM can bring to the RC16.

#37 Augusto Fernandez - Tech3 GASGAS. Grade: F

The 2022 Moto2 champion never really had much going for him ahead of his MotoGP debut with Tech3 last year, with many assuming him to be merely a seat-warmer before Acosta was ready.

Flashes of speed on a difficult package under immensely tricky circumstances, namely the lack of competitive team-mate to aid his learning, earned him a stay for 2024. Though, one has to wonder had Pol Espargaro not suffered such serious injuries if that would still be the case.

Fernandez has managed a best of 11th in Portugal on a KTM he has struggled to get to grips with since switching to the carbon fibre frame for this year and it hasn’t gotten any better from there.

At the halfway stage he is sat on only 15 points with nothing suggesting any major upturn in form in the final 10 rounds.

Yamaha

• 2 riders

• Best GP result - 7th

• Best sprint result - 5th

• Best qualifying - 8th

• Championship - 4th (53 points)

Fabio Quartararo. Grade: B

While a B grade may appear high given how Yamaha’s season has gone so far, it’s exactly that fact that warrants big praise for 2021 world champion Quartararo.

Firmly in a rebuilding phase, Quartararo has gone from angry world champion being stifled by a poor bike to a rider understanding of the bigger picture. Key to that has been the arrival of Max Bartolini as technical chief from Ducati.

While progress has been incremental but tangible, Quartararo is consistently extracting the best from that M1, scoring 49 points - 35 clear of the rest of those battling for the ‘Japanese Cup’. Had it not been for an unfortunate tyre pressure penalty, he’d have a podium to his credit after surviving the madness of the Jerez sprint to finish third.

Without Quartararo, Yamaha would be in a far worse position. Any major steps forward in the final 10 races won’t be easy, but it will likely be Quartararo who bags those better results.

Alex Rins. Grade: D

Ranking Rins’ season so far is no easy task given three factors: he’s adapting to a new bike for the second season in a row; he’s still not fully recovered from a serious leg break from 2023; and injury has affected him recently.

But a haul of just eight points and no top 10s makes it hard to award Rins anything higher in our rankings.

There have been flashes of speed, particularly against his highly-rated team-mate, but the final 10 races for Rins will purely be an exercise in developing the bike and bettering his understanding of it as any genuine step will hopefully happen next year.

Honda

• 4 riders

• Best GP result - 12th

• Best sprint result - 9th

• Best qualifying - 13th

• Championship - 5th (26 points)

#36 Joan Mir - Repsol Honda Team. Grade: D

Honda can’t expect a particularly glittering scorecard for its stable of four riders given how woeful 2024 has been so far.

Joan Mir looked at one point as if he would be calling time on his MotoGP career rather than re-sign with Honda for 2025. A best of 12th is nothing the 2020 world champion will be happy about.

But given how far the RC213V is off the pace and in how much of a tailspin HRC got itself into at the start of the season when it turned out its design direction was wrong, Mir has often been the only one on an RC213V showing consistent gains through a race weekend.

However, this also tends to end in crashes. Mir’s speed is good and any gains from Honda in the final 10 races will prove that.

#10 Luca Marini - Repsol Honda Team. Grade: F

Even in the context of Honda’s terrible season, Marini has been particularly disappointing.

Honda’s list of candidates to replace Marc Marquez for 2024 wasn’t long but Marini’s form so far in 2024 hasn’t done much to convince his two-year deal was a sound investment.

While adapting from a Ducati to a Honda is no easy task, Johann Zarco is proving more is possible from that switch than Marini is.

With just one point to his credit - having been gifted it in Germany due to a penalty before a penalty of his own in Britain robbed him of a genuine first point - Marini really needs to step up in the final 10 races.

#5 Johann Zarco - LCR Honda. Grade: C-

As mentioned above, Zarco is making the unenviable switch from a race-winning Ducati to very troubled Honda in 2024 and has done a solid job under the circumstances.

Very much on a par with Mir in terms of best results, Zarco has managed one more point and is often proving to be the quickest of the Hondas - the marque’s best qualifying for the year courtesy of the Frenchman.

After his terrible spell with KTM in 2019, Zarco’s Honda move has offered him a chance to show he can genuinely grow a struggling project.

And so far after 10 races, his signing is proving to be a good one for HRC.

#30 Takaaki Nakagami - LCR Honda. Grade: F

By now a Honda stalwart, Nakagami should be doing much more on that bike than he has done so far in 2024.

While nobody is extracting much from the RC213V, Nakagami should at least be leading the Honda charge and not third behind Mir and Zarco.

With his LCR future hanging in the balance with Somkiat Chantra a potential target for HRC for 2025, Nakagami’s ambitions of extending his MotoGP career to an eighth season hinge on a strong final 10 races.