Inevitability in motorsport isn’t a good thing, except for when that inexorable, repetitive march to the podium’s top step is a case of stacking building blocks to complete one of world sport’s – forget just MotoGP – most heartwarming redemptive stories.

Every MotoGP qualifying, practice and race LIVE and ad-break free from lights out to the chequered flag. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >

There wasn’t much intrigue as to where the 2025 MotoGP title was headed after Marc Marquez won the sprint and main race at the season-opener in Thailand in March, then repeated the dose next time out in Argentina.

That quartet of victories set a tone that made his seventh MotoGP title a matter of when, not if, and saw him finally regain the crown he relinquished after six years that began in injury-plagued hell, and then required a change of team and physical and financial sacrifice to get back to the place he seemingly owned from 2013-19.

Behind the Spanish great? Plenty of surprises.

The careers of several riders took a turn in 2025, and some will be hoping this season will be viewed as the exception more than the rule in years to come.

Injuries played their part – the full-time line-up of 22 riders competed in just one of 22 Grands Prix all season – and as some riders made the most of their new surroundings after multiple off-season team swaps, others were left underwhelmed – or underwhelming – based on what they were riding and who sat alongside them in the sister garage.

MORE MOTOGP NEWS

MILLER REPORT CARD: great what-if that still hurts, and Aussie’s path to revival

TALKING POINTS: Miller’s final flourish, champ’s inescapable shadow

Given he had the title secured with five rounds remaining in Japan and then immediately got injured in Indonesia and missed the rest of the year – and still had a margin of more than two Grands Prix-worth of points by the end of the season – there’s no way Marquez can’t be considered the best MotoGP rider of 2025, unless your name rhymes with Ralentino Vossi or you’re part of MotoGP’s fan base who can’t move on from 2015.

The order behind Ducati’s kingpin? That’s harder to ascertain in Fox Sports’ annual end-of-year rankings; a look back at the 2024 rankings and even those from midway through the longest season in world championship history in 2025 shows the extent of the churn behind the nailed-on number one.

Before we reveal those who made the top 10, a word on a few who didn’t – some of whom have reasons to slump, and others who don’t enjoy that same luxury.

Reigning world champion Jorge Martin – top of this list 12 months ago – competed in just seven Grands Prix and had almost as many serious injuries in a miserable title defence with Aprilia. KTM’s Maverick Vinales was inside the top 10 of the championship standings before he badly hurt his left shoulder in Germany in round 11 and was only intermittently seen thereafter. Joan Mir took two podiums for Honda on the days when he was able to stay on the bike long enough to extract its potential, a rare feat given the 2020 world champion had a grid-high 19 DNFs.

MORE MOTOGP NEWS

VALENCIA RACE REPORT Italian signs off in style as Aussie banks top-10 finish

THE BIGGEST MOMENTS Improbable wins, sliding doors and a champ’s return define 2025

As for Aussie Jack Miller? In points (79) and finishing position (17th), 2025 was his worst season since 2016, but he was comfortably the second-best Yamaha rider all year, earned a contract for 2026 when it appeared he was on shaky ground when he signed with Pramac after two years at KTM, and still has a turn of pace that has more upside than any Yamaha rider not named Fabio Quartararo.

French Grand Prix winnerJohann Zarco (104 points in the season’s first half, 43 in the second) was too inconsistent to be included, while Honda stablemate Luca Marini (13th in the standings) had his fingerprints all over Honda’s return to respectability, but never cracked the podium in a sprint or Grand Prix.

That’s a snapshot of who didn’t make the grade; here’s who did, with a top five who picked themselves, a group you could throw a blanket over from sixth to ninth, and a rider who stumbled backwards into 10th as the best of a flawed bunch.

(Note: head-to-head with teammate statistics below only counts sprint races or Grands Prix where both teammates finished).

10. FRANCO MORBIDELLI (DUCATI)

Morbidelli’s season peaked early with a double podium showing in Qatar (Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

2025 mid-season rank: 7th

2024 end of season rank: Not ranked

Points/championship position: 231, 7th

Best Grand Prix result: 3rd (Argentina, Qatar)

Best sprint race result: 3rd (Qatar, Hungary)

Best qualifying: 3rd (Aragon, Malaysia)

Points compared to teammate: Morbidelli 231, Fabio Di Giannantonio 262

Head-to-head with teammate in qualifying: Morbidelli 12, Di Giannantonio 8

Head-to-head with teammate in Grands Prix: Morbidelli 10, Di Giannantonio 5

Head-to-head with teammate in sprint races: Morbidelli 6, Di Giannantonio 12

Summary: Someone had to be 10th. It’s a five-word summation of Morbidelli’s 2025 that peaked very early – he had three of his four podiums across both race formats in the opening four rounds – and occasionally made headlines for clattering into rivals or having brain fades that only Morbidelli could have. Crashing after running into a stationary Aleix Espargaro on the grid before the final race of the year in Valencia and breaking his left hand – ruling him out of post-season testing – was a bizarre mishap for any other rider, but one met with an eye roll because it was Morbidelli.

The VR46 Ducati intra-team battle with Fabio Di Giannantonio was close all season, but given the GP24 Morbidelli was on appeared to be a better bike than the GP25 Di Giannantonio rode that proved problematic for riders not named Marc Marquez, Morbidelli could have – should have – done better given he’d already had one year on it at Pramac last season.

Morbidelli is occasionally fast and always feisty, but it’s debatable if any other team besides the one run by his mentor Valentino Rossi would hire him if the 30-year-old became a free agent.

9. FRANCESCO BAGNAIA (DUCATI)

Bagnaia’s success in Japan was one of the few times last year’s runner-up hit the same heights in 2025 (Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

2025 mid-season rank: 5th

2024 end of season rank: 2nd

Points/championship position: 288, 5th

Best Grand Prix result: 1st (Americas, Japan)

Best sprint race result: 1st (Japan, Malaysia)

Best qualifying: 1st (Czech Republic, Japan, Malaysia)

Points compared to teammates: Bagnaia 288, Marc Marquez 545 (Nicolo Bulega/Michele Pirro 2 in 4 rounds)

Head-to-head with teammates in qualifying: Bagnaia 9, Marquez/Bulega/Pirro 13

Head-to-head with teammates in Grands Prix: Bagnaia 2, Marquez/Bulega/Pirro 12

Head-to-head with teammates in sprint races: Bagnaia 4, Marquez/Bulega/Pirro 16

Summary: When you’ve won two Grands Prix and two sprints and finished in the top five in the championship, ninth seems too low for any rider … but after his 2021-24 run of finishing no worse than second in the championship, it’s clear Bagnaia is not any rider.

It’s hard to know where to start to describe Bagnaia’s season, where the outcome of the partnership between the two-time MotoGP champion and favoured Ducati son and the incoming Marquez provided so much pre-season intrigue. By the time Marquez called time on his title-winning season in Indonesia, Bagnaia had barely scored half of his teammate’s points; Bagnaia’s sprint-Grand Prix double from pole in Japan came in a run of seven rounds where he scored 14 total points in six of them.

To be fair to Bagnaia, he rarely ducked criticism of his performances – “one of the hardest and maybe the worst season I had” was his assessment after Valencia – and seeing whether 2025 will go down as a blip or the start of a slide out of Ducati will be one of the main storylines of 2026 for a rider whose best is a match for anyone, but whose worst makes him appear helpless.

8. RAUL FERNANDEZ (APRILIA)

Fernandez’s maiden MotoGP win at Phillip Island was the highlight of a superb end to the season (Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

2025 mid-season rank: Not ranked

2024 end of season rank: Not ranked

Points/championship position: 172, 10th

Best Grand Prix result: 1st (Australia)

Best sprint race result: 2nd (Australia)

Best qualifying: 3rd (Indonesia)

Points compared to teammate: Fernandez 172, Ai Ogura 89

Head-to-head with teammate in qualifying: Fernandez 12, Ogura 6

Head-to-head with teammate in Grands Prix: Fernandez 5, Ogura 4

Head-to-head with teammate in sprint races: Fernandez 9, Ogura 7

Summary: Riders six through eight in this year’s rankings all reside on the same shelf, and there’s a hint of recency bias to place Fernandez this high, given his first three-and-a-half MotoGP seasons didn’t produce much in the way of results, and led many to justifiably question how he was still on the grid.

Halfway through 2025, Fernandez was barely ahead of Trackhouse Aprilia rookie teammate Ai Ogura in the standings; after that, as Aprilia’s RS-GP emerged to become the grid’s second-best bike, the Spaniard qualified in the top 10 six times, bagged two sprint podiums, and finished on the Grand Prix rostrum twice, most memorably when he won at Phillip Island in October on his 76th premier-class start.

At 25, Fernandez is belatedly showing the promise that saw him come into MotoGP as a much-hyped rookie after a brilliant one-off Moto2 season in 2021, and rounding out the season with second place in Valencia looked legitimate, and owed nothing to luck. For a rider who had never finished higher than 16th in the standings before 2025, it’s a huge step – and he slotted into the top 10 where other, bigger, names vacated their places.

7. FERMIN ALDEGUER (DUCATI)

Aldeguer’s maiden win in Indonesia came in dominant fashion as he became the second-youngest MotoGP victor ever (MotoGP Press)Source: Supplied

2025 mid-season rank: Not ranked

2024 end of season rank: N/A (Moto2)

Points/championship position: 214, 8th

Best Grand Prix result: 1st (Indonesia)

Best sprint race result: 2nd (Indonesia)

Best qualifying: 2nd (Indonesia)

Points compared to teammate: Aldeguer 214, Alex Marquez 467

Head-to-head with teammate in qualifying: Aldeguer 2, Marquez 20

Head-to-head with teammate in Grands Prix: Aldeguer 4, Marquez 12

Head-to-head with teammate in sprint races: Aldeguer 3, Marquez 17

Summary: The 20-year-old rookie didn’t make a lot of friends on track in 2025 – Aldeguer’s run-in with Jack Miller in the final sprint of the season in Valencia wasn’t exactly an isolated incident – but while his aggression and the racing room he leaves opponents in combat can be questioned, there’s no answers needed as to whether the Gresini Ducati rider’s best can reap rewards in the premier class.

On several occasions in 2025 – most notably Indonesia, where he became the second-youngest MotoGP race-winner ever – Aldeguer’s signature corner speed and tyre preservation skills aligned to impressive effect. It’s a potent arrow to have in his quiver, but there’s room for more; Aldeguer was thrashed in qualifying by teammate Alex Marquez, and he missed Q2 six times on a bike Marquez qualified on the front row 14 times in 22 Grands Prix.

Get his one-lap pace closer to acceptable, and this will be the lowest the ultra-talented Spaniard will sit in any top-10 ranking for years to come.

6. FABIO DI GIANNANTONIO (DUCATI)

Di Giannantonio took two podiums in the final four Grands Prix, second in Australia being the best of them (Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

2025 mid-season rank: 8th

2024 end of season rank: 7th

Points/championship position: 262, 6th

Best Grand Prix result: 2nd (Australia)

Best sprint race result: 2nd (Hungary)

Best qualifying: 2nd (Americas)

Points compared to teammate: Di Giannantonio 262, Franco Morbidelli 231

Head-to-head with teammate in qualifying: Di Giannantonio 8, Morbidelli 12

Head-to-head with teammate in Grands Prix: Di Giannantonio 5, Morbidelli 10

Head-to-head with teammate in sprint races: Di Giannantonio 12, Morbidelli 6

Summary: At 27 and four years into his MotoGP career, ‘Diggia’ is seemingly never going to be anyone’s idea of a consistent rider, capable of vacillating between anonymous and excellent and back again on a week to week, race by race basis. The high points, though, are hard to ignore, and his late-race pace as he charged to podiums in Austin, Mugello and Phillip Island were standout rides which could have used a lap or two extra to really reap the rewards that speed suggests.

Being entrusted with Ducati’s ‘upgraded’ – inverted commas necessary – GP25 machine this season might have been more of a hindrance than a help, but finishing just 26 points and one place behind Bagnaia on the same bike and for a customer team said plenty about the seasons of both Italians.

Di Giannantonio’s points (262) and championship position (sixth) were career-bests, and he signed off 2025 in style by finishing third in Valencia, enabling Ducati to continue its remarkable run of 88 straight Grands Prix with at least one rider on the podium that dates back to the 2021 British Grand Prix.

5. FABIO QUARTARARO (YAMAHA)

Jerez was one of five stunning poles for Quartararo and Yamaha in 2025 (MotoGP Press)Source: Supplied

2025 mid-season rank: 3rd

2024 end of season rank: 6th

Points/championship position: 201, 9th

Best Grand Prix result: 2nd (Spain)

Best sprint race result: 2nd (Catalunya)

Best qualifying: Pole (Spain, France, Great Britain, Netherlands, Australia)

Points compared to teammate: Quartararo 201, Alex Rins 68

Head-to-head with teammate in qualifying: Quartararo 21, Rins 1

Head-to-head with teammate in Grands Prix: Quartararo 14, Rins 2

Head-to-head with teammate in sprint races: Quartararo 17, Rins 0

Summary: If this list was ranking who did the most with the least in 2025, it’d be Quartararo first, daylight second. Riding the slowest bike on the grid and the only one persisting with an inline-four engine configuration since Suzuki quit MotoGP in 2022, the flying Frenchman somehow dragged five pole positions out of the YZR-M1 that defied logic and were best analysed with an open mouth and a shake of the head, Quartararo dancing on a tightrope-thin edge of adhesion with breathtaking aggression and risk-taking.

The inevitable regression to the mean in races meant he never got the points rewards his talent showed, but he outscored the other three Yamaha riders (Miller, factory teammate Alex Rins and Miguel Oliveira) by himself (201-190) and is rated right at the top of the next tier of best riders behind Marc Marquez, depending on your thoughts about Pedro Acosta.

Yamaha has fast-tracked – some would say rushed – its V4 engine project into use next year to appease their prized asset, and keeping Quartararo happy and with belief in the only manufacturer he’s ever ridden for promises to be an early-season storyline to watch in 2026; the 26-year-old has power to flex and knows it, and will be the cork in the 2027 rider market bottle until he sticks or twists.

4. PEDRO ACOSTA (KTM)

Acosta stormed home late to steal fourth in the championship from Bagnaia in the final round (Getty Images)Source: Getty Images

2025 mid-season rank: 6th

2024 end of season rank: 4th

Points/championship position: 307, 4th

Best Grand Prix result: 2nd (Hungary, Indonesia, Malaysia)

Best sprint race result: 2nd (Czech Republic, Portugal, Valencia)

Best qualifying: 2nd (Portugal)

Points compared to teammate: Acosta 307, Brad Binder 155

Head-to-head with teammate in qualifying: Acosta 22, Binder 0

Head-to-head with teammate in Grands Prix: Acosta 12, Binder 4

Head-to-head with teammate in sprint races: Acosta 14, Binder 1

Summary: You could flip a coin for third and fourth on this list and neither would be the wrong choice, but Acosta remaining without a win in either MotoGP race format two years into his career is both a surprise, and the deciding factor.

That’s not throwing shade towards the Spaniard at all, but the reality of Acosta’s tenure at KTM, especially this year where the Austrian brand’s off-season financial woes and his own impatience threatened to see him headed to pastures new before his 22nd birthday. Once KTM attracted outside cash and Acosta stopped batting his eyelids – for now – at prospective employers, the sophomore maximised everything he had, and all of his 12 podiums (five in Grands Prix, seven in sprints) came after the halfway mark.

Teammate Brad Binder – KTM’s stalwart who had finished inside the top six of the standings for the previous four seasons – scored barely half of Acosta’s points (307-155) and was annihilated 22-0 in qualifying by the Spanish star, continuing Acosta’s remarkable run of never being outqualified by the rider on the sister bike in both his MotoGP seasons.

That first win must – surely – be a matter of time, and perhaps the start of a slew of them when it belatedly arrives.

3. MARCO BEZZECCHI (APRILIA)

Bezzecchi capped off his best season yet with back-to-back wins in the final two rounds while leading every lap (MotoGP Press)Source: Supplied

2025 mid-season rank: 4th

2024 end of season rank: Not ranked

Points/championship position: 353, 3rd

Best Grand Prix result: 1st (Great Britain, Portugal, Valencia)

Best sprint race result: 1st (San Marino, Indonesia, Australia)

Best qualifying: Pole (Austria, San Marino, Indonesia, Portugal, Valencia)

Points compared to teammates: Bezzecchi 353, Jorge Martin/Lorenzo Savadori 42

Head-to-head with teammates in qualifying: Bezzecchi 20, Martin/Savadori 1

Head-to-head with teammates in Grands Prix: Bezzecchi 12, Martin/Savadori 0

Head-to-head with teammates in sprint races: Bezzecchi 18, Martin/Savadori 0

Summary: Like Acosta, Bezzecchi’s 2025 was a tale of two halves, but the Aprilia rider’s final 11 races were more extreme and much more successful. Bezzecchi’s 223 points from the Czech Republic (Round 12) to the final round in Valencia were the most by any rider in the back-half of the year, Marc Marquez’s 201 before the shoulder injury caused by Bezzecchi running into him in Indonesia and seeing the Spaniard miss the final four rounds notwithstanding.

Before the season, Aprilia boss Massimo Rivola joked that he hoped he’d signed the 2023 version of Bezzecchi (third in the championship) rather than the 2024 one (12th); in an interview with Fox Sports in Australia, Rivola said he felt the 2025-spec ‘Bez’ was even better than 2023, and the raw numbers (three wins, five poles, 15 total podiums) prove it.

For a rider who was signed to be Aprilia’s number two next to Martin – and might have been Aprilia’s third choice after it missed out on Enea Bastianini and couldn’t retain Maverick Vinales – Bezzecchi stepped in to become Aprilia’s leader and guiding light. If Aprilia’s RS-GP machine continues to take strides, the 27-year-old could find himself in title contention as early as next season.

2. ALEX MARQUEZ (DUCATI)

Catalunya was a rare weekend where Alex Marquez had big brother’s measure in his best season yet (MotoGP Press)Source: Supplied

2025 mid-season rank: 2nd

2024 end of season rank: 9th

Points/championship position: 467, 2nd

Best Grand Prix result: 1st (Spain, Catalunya, Malaysia)

Best sprint race result: 1st (Great Britain, Portugal, Malaysia)

Best qualifying: Pole (Catalunya)

Points compared to teammate: Marquez 467, Fermin Aldeguer 214

Head-to-head with teammate in qualifying: Marquez 20, Aldeguer 2

Head-to-head with teammate in Grands Prix: Marquez 12, Aldeguer 4

Head-to-head with teammate in sprint races: Marquez 17, Aldeguer 3

Summary: Not many MotoGP riders reinvent themselves in their late 20s, but that’s what the lesser-known Marquez did in 2025, the 29-year-old surprising with his early-season pace, and then sustaining it for a year that’s redefined his legacy and made the sport’s insiders reconsider his status.

In his sixth MotoGP season, Marquez qualified and finished second behind big brother Marc in the first two sprints and Grands Prix of 2025, and only very occasionally slipped from that high level as he secured second in the standings with two rounds remaining, a year where he had 28 podiums (13 in Grands Prix, 15 in sprints) compared to one – total – in 2024. A first win came – fittingly – at Jerez, and two more Grand Prix victories and success in the final two sprints of 2025 saw him score almost 300 points more than he managed last season.

Yes, Marquez was on the Ducati GP24 that was the best bike on the grid, but Franco Morbidelli was on the same bike for a customer team and did next-to-nothing with it, while Marquez had Bagnaia’s measure from day one and regularly made his brother’s factory Ducati teammate look decidedly average.

Second might be as good as it gets for Marquez, but from where he came from – 2024 (8th) was his best previous championship finish – he’s one of two big winners of 2025.

1. MARC MARQUEZ (DUCATI)

Six years after his sixth MotoGP title, Marquez was back where he belongs in 2025 (MotoGP Press)Source: Supplied

2025 mid-season rank: 1st

2024 end of season rank: 3rd

Points/championship position: 545, 1st

Best Grand Prix result: 1st (Thailand, Argentina, Qatar, Aragon, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, San Marino)

Best sprint race result: 1st (Thailand, Argentina, Americas, Qatar, Spain, France, Aragon, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Catalunya)

Best qualifying: Pole (Thailand, Argentina, Americas, Qatar, Aragon, Italy, Germany, Hungary)

Points compared to teammate: Marquez 545, Francesco Bagnaia 288

Head-to-head with teammate in qualifying: Marquez 13, Bagnaia 5

Head-to-head with teammate in Grands Prix: Marquez 12, Bagnaia 2

Head-to-head with teammate in sprint races: Marquez 14, Bagnaia 1

Summary: The biggest winner, of course, was the rider who seemingly did nothing but win in 2025; Marquez was victorious in 25 of the 35 races he competed in across both formats before being punted by Bezzecchi in Mandalika and missing the rest of the season after right shoulder surgery.

The chance to beat his most wins in a season (13 in 2014) went begging when he missed the final four rounds in Australia, Malaysia, Portugal and Valencia, but 2025 was all about whether the move to Ducati’s factory team could help him recapture past glories, and the extent of his dominance made it an overwhelming success.

Drought-busting wins in Qatar and Italy (ending 11-year gaps between victories) and in Austria (where he’d never won) were highlights, and his seven-round run from Aragon in June to Catalunya in early September saw him win eight sprints and seven Grands Prix in a row to be unbeaten for 91 consecutive days.

It’s not the same Marquez who dominated MotoGP in his 2013-19 ‘first’ career – the injury-scarred, battle-hardened Spaniard appreciates the journey and celebrates his successes more these days – and what he does for an encore and where he goes after his current Ducati contract runs out at the end of next year promise to be fascinating plotlines for 2026, the first time in a long time where he won’t be chasing the ghosts of glories past.