Trackhouse Aprilia<\/a> Team Principal Davide Brivio says he was impressed by the calmness and \u201cmaturity\u201d shown by the 24-year-old in managing tyres, and controlling himself when he was passed by Pedro Acosta in the beginning.<\/p>\n Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
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\u201cOf course, more than happy to have won the race,\u201d said Brivio, speaking to the MotoGP world feed broadcast during FP1 in Sepang.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s great, fantastic. I\u2019m very happy the way it came, the way he [Fernandez] managed the race, because there has been a lot of talk with the engineers about tyre management, how critical is Phillip Island by the end of the race with tyres and he just did everything perfect.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, when Pedro [Acosta] overtook him, he stayed calm, in control, waiting.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, from this point of view, he positively surprised me, because it\u2019s the first time we see him doing this in MotoGP.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a little bit worried, \u2018Can he manage, can he keep going?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cBut, he did everything very well, so I\u2019m very happy for this. He showed maturity and I hope we can keep using [it] from now on.\u201d<\/p>\n
A step too early?<\/p>\n
Fernandez\u2019s route to MotoGP success was one which rarely seemed as though it would reach its destination. The Spanish rider was considered a serial underperformer in his first years in the class and was rarely able to achieve the kind of results his one-year Moto2 career suggested he could.<\/p>\n
But from the second third of the 2025 season there were signs of improvement. Aprilia was making strides with the RS-GP and Fernandez was somewhat following suite, finishing inside the top-10 in six of the last seven races before the summer break.<\/p>\n
After a brief dip in form in Hungary, Catalunya, and San Marino, Fernandez was back in the top-10 from the start of the Asian tour in Japan at the end of September, and then took his first MotoGP podium of any kind in the Indonesian Sprint.<\/p>\n
There was a build-up, then, to the Australian victory, and the amount time for that build-up to reach its crescendo is put, by Brivio, down to a number of factors, including the timing of his move to MotoGP.<\/p>\n
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\u201cProbably he switched from Moto2 to MotoGP maybe too early,\u201d Brivio said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd also, coming from eight wins in Moto2, probably he was feeling like ready for MotoGP \u2013 which is not the case, when you come you have to learn.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, probably he had also some up and down on building up his mindset, to accept that in MotoGP he might have struggles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, he changed teams after one year, so probably now is a little bit more stability \u2013 the same bike, same team for two or three years, the same people around. Maybe that also helped.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd, of course, he has to be aware how difficult is MotoGP, how hard he has to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis winter he worked a lot on improving his physical condition which last year was a little bit critical.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I think he\u2019s getting mature also outside of the track. The maturity is also outside of the track, and everything helps: good bike, good development from Aprilia, his experience, stability, people around \u2013 all together, it\u2019s a big package when you put this together.\u201d<\/p>\n
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