Regardless of a number of difficult seasons in MotoGP, Raul Fernandez has at all times had the help of his bosses Massimo Rivola and Davide Brivio. When outcomes weren’t going his approach final 12 months, each Rivola and Brivio saved their religion in him, and provided him a brand new two-year contract via 2026.
Nonetheless, when Fernandez solely got here away with a sixth-place lead to Indonesia earlier this month, regardless of Aprilia clearly having the quickest bike within the discipline, even Rivola couldn’t cover his disappointment.
“If he was within the entrance, along with [race winner] Fermin [Aldeguer], he had the tempo to stick with him,” Rivola, Aprilia Racing CEO, stated after the race.
“He did not discover the place to assault and overtake. When he tried, it was a bit like that, and he did not do it in a clear approach.
“P6 is an efficient consequence, however in accordance with the efficiency he may have had, a podium could possibly be one thing to count on, contemplating that the velocity in free air was actually good.”
Indonesia might have been a missed alternative, however Fernandez didn’t squander any possibilities the second time as he romped to victory within the Australian Grand Prix. He bravely fought towards Pedro Acosta and dispatched him early on, avoiding the sort of mid-race scrap that price him dearly in Mandalika.
It’s necessary to notice that, even in Indonesia, Fernandez had gained confidence from his podium within the dash race – his first in any format in MotoGP. For a rider with the challenges he confronted in 2025, this was a vital turning level.
After breaking a bone but once more throughout pre-season testing, Fernandez started the 12 months firmly on the again foot. Following the opening eight rounds, he sat a distant nineteenth within the championship with simply 25 factors to his title. To make issues worse, rookie Ai Ogura was utterly outperforming him on the opposite aspect of the storage, scoring nearly twice as many factors and even reaching a top-five end on debut.
Fernandez has spoken candidly concerning the private toll this era took on him, as questions started to mount over his future in MotoGP.
“I wasn’t glad,” he stated. “Issues weren’t understanding, and I could not even stand up within the morning with a smile on my face.”
Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing
Picture by: Paul Crock / AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Fernandez and Trackhouse continued to work on their points, with the in-season checks at Jerez and Aragon giving him the time and help wanted to make the progress required to rebound in MotoGP.
“I made a really massive mistake originally of the season after I crashed in Sepang and I used to be injured,” he defined. “My comeback was fairly quickly and it did not assist to create the bike set-up.
“The massive change is we had some checks in the course of the season, that we had time to work on ourselves, and we discovered one thing that helped me to trip the bike higher.”
If Fernandez’s early 2025 struggles have been remoted, it wouldn’t have been a lot of an issue. However they have been part of a broader sample of underachievement in MotoGP.
His rookie season on Tech3 KTM was by no means going to set the world alight, however his transfer to what was then the RNF workforce in 2024 ought to have boosted his fortunes. Nonetheless, he ended up ending twentieth within the championship, 4 spots behind team-mate Miguel Oliveira, with a shock fifth-place end within the Valencia finale being the one standout results of the 12 months.
In 2024, he confirmed flashes of tempo, qualifying on the entrance row in each the Catalan and German rounds and main the Barcelona dash race till crashing. However a mid-season change to the latest-spec Aprilia backfired, and he wound up sixteenth within the championship with simply 15 extra factors than he scored within the earlier season.
Trackhouse workforce principal Brivio defined how Fernandez centered on bodily conditioning over the winter, however wanted time to regain the boldness required to struggle on the entrance in 2025.
“He is an amazing expertise,” Brivio informed MotoGP.com. “You solely want to repair [a few things], to consider in your self, to be focused on the work, to attempt to discover the working system, the right way to work in a storage, giving significance to the necessary issues, to be concentrated and centered on what counts.
“The start of this season was fairly robust. We have been struggling to attain factors, however then we saved speaking and attempting to see what we will enhance.
“He additionally labored rather a lot in the course of the winter on his bodily preparation, which was somewhat bit missing final 12 months.
“Then we began to be in a high 10 place at Le Mans. Then we began to say, ‘let’s attempt to get within the high seven’, however then he jumped abruptly on a podium in these final two weekends.
“I am glad as a result of he can present his expertise. He confirmed how he will also be clever and good at managing races.
“He got here right here very excited after Mandalika, with the rostrum. So he in all probability grew his confidence.”
Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing
Picture by: William West – AFP – Getty Pictures
Rivola echoed this sentiment, emphasising that he by no means had any doubt about Fernandez’s expertise or velocity.
In spite of everything, the Spaniard gained eight races and scored 12 podiums in his sole season in Moto2 earlier than stepping as much as the premier class.
“I do not suppose we have to argue concerning the expertise stage of Raul,” he stated. “What we have to argue is the way in which he was working. Now with Davide and likewise with [Aprilia technical director] Fabiano [Sterlacchini] serving to, he has individuals he can belief.
“That could be very, crucial. So I am actually wanting ahead to see the following three races.”
Aprilia has excessive expectations for the 24-year-old. With Jorge Martin nonetheless sidelined resulting from damage and Ai Ogura solely getting back from his personal crash in Australia final weekend, Rivola is pinning his hopes on Bezzecchi and Fernandez within the closing stretch of the 12 months.
“I am very curious to go to Sepang to see Raul’s response,” he stated. We noticed Marco [Bezzecchi] after the victory in Silverstone, he was the rider to attain essentially the most factors after Marc [Marquez]. He had a kind of click on.
“Now I am curious to see if Raul is happy with that [result] or getting extra indignant. I hope it is the second, as a result of if you begin feeling the odor of the podiums, you discover one thing extra, and that’s the finest technique to develop.
“I might like to see each Marco and Raul combating for podiums.”
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