Who slept the worst last night: Raul Fernandez

Dear MotoGP fans,

One can only warmly congratulate Aprilia on their masterpiece in Mugello. The impressive performance and dominance at the Italian Grand Prix have cemented the change of guard in MotoGP.

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Aprilia has replaced Ducati at the top and is the dominant brand. Now, in the coming months, we will be concerned with the question of which Aprilia rider will become world champion, and whether Massimo Rivola will have the team duel under control.

Manuel Gonzalez has also shown a masterpiece, and not for the first time. Barcelona was already impressive with his tire management. But winning in Mugello with over five seconds lead is from another world.

Moto2 is practically a spec class where only the smallest details make a difference. Gonzalez impressively shows that he is currently the best, fastest, and most complete Moto2 rider.

I believe we all agree that he deserves a MotoGP chance. All the more incomprehensible to me is that in recent weeks and months, not several teams from the premier class have shown interest.

During the Mugello weekend, however, the tide turned. We were able to find out that Trackhouse-Aprilia and Gonzalez’s management are negotiating concretely. His chances are said to be good.

Fernandez had enough time and chances

That would in turn mean that Raul Fernandez’s MotoGP career will end after this season at the age of 26 (his birthday is in October).

Fernandez has talent, I have no doubt about that. But he has shown this talent too rarely. He had enough chances, as 2026 is now his fifth MotoGP season. The first season with Tech3-KTM was difficult.

That cost his teammate Remy Gardner his MotoGP career. Both struggled with the RC16. The switch to the then-new Aprilia satellite team RNF meant a new chance for Fernandez.

RNF brought Noe Herrera as crew chief to his side at that time. The duo experienced an extremely strong Moto2 season in 2021 with the Ajo-KTM team. Fernandez almost became world champion back then. Many called him “the new Marc Marquez”.

Photo series: The career highlights of Raul Fernandez

However, he was never able to translate these early accolades into MotoGP. The first highlight of Fernandez that I remember was fifth place in Valencia 2023.

In the world championship showdown between Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin, that was only a footnote. From 2024, I remember the sprint in Barcelona. Fernandez led and pulled away in front until he crashed.

Okay, that also happened to Brad Binder and Bagnaia in this race. Otherwise, I can’t think of any other highlight from 2024 offhand, and that was already his third MotoGP season.

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The new brand colleagues are also better

I think Fernandez had his biggest chance at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025. Aprilia hired three new riders, only he was the constant. This was also shown by the fact that new developments were already tested with Fernandez in autumn 2024.

Even then, I was of the opinion that this was now his big chance. Because he had the opportunity to win Aprilia over, impress the engineers, and finally unfold his talent.

But then Marco Bezzecchi was clearly better from the start on a new motorcycle for him. That is the wood from which future world champions are carved, and it shows real talent.

Fernandez was also overshadowed by his rookie teammate Ai Ogura at the beginning of 2025. At that time, I wrote in our traditional Monday column that it was not going to work out with Fernandez anymore.

All the more surprising to me was that he was able to initiate a turnaround in the summer. Whatever Davide Brivio talked to him about, it worked.

In autumn, Fernandez was then really strong and exactly as you would expect with his talent. With some podiums and the win in Australia, he seemed to have finally arrived in MotoGP – in his fourth year.

He continued that at the beginning of 2026 with podiums in Thailand, but then it got more difficult. In fact, since then Fernandez has only been the fourth-best Aprilia rider behind Bezzecchi, Martin, and Ogura.

In the Mugello sprint, Fernandez showed again what he can do. I am still convinced that he really has talent. But to be successful in MotoGP, it takes more than talent.

I know that Fernandez has worked a lot behind the scenes to become a complete racer. But ultimately, he has shown too few highlights in four and a half years to be considered a future world champion.

He had enough time and enough chances to develop and unfold. I think now is the right time for Trackhouse to give a new talent a chance. If the team decides on Gonzalez, I am very much looking forward to watching his development in the premier class.

Yours

Who do you think was the loser of the MotoGP weekend? Share your opinion with me on Facebook or on Bluesky. There you will find my texts, insider information, opinions, and assessments on current topics. And of course the opportunity to discuss this column!

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