‘Aggressive’ rider is now dispensable after what MotoGP team’s project leader has said

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Just five riders head into the 2025 MotoGP season officially fighting for their futures in the premier class field, yet another pilot has now been branded as dispensable as well.

Almost every bike in the pinnacle of motorcycle racing is locked up for the next two years as the MotoGP rider market flows with a flurry of two-year contracts. MotoGP teams often like to lock in their line-ups for two seasons to offer continuity and a chance to build the project.

But five riders in Franco Morbidelli with VR46 Racing Team, Luca Marini with Honda, Johann Zarco plus Somkiat Chantra with LCR and Jack Miller with Pramac go into the new campaign with a point to prove. They could also not be alone in having to earn their future in MotoGP.

Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez is dispensable without Aprilia’s factory support

Raul Fernandez will hit the grid for the Grand Prix of Thailand on March 2 to start his fourth season in MotoGP. But it is also the 24-year-old’s first season without any factory support in the premier class after signing his latest contract directly with Trackhouse Racing until 2026.

KTM ushered Fernandez through to MotoGP in 2022 with Tech3 after finishing second in the 2021 Moto2 standings while a rookie. Yet the Spaniard then switched to RNF – who became Trackhouse in 2024 – for the 2023 term after Fernandez signed a two-year deal for Aprilia.

READ MORE: Every MotoGP team’s confirmed 2025 rider line-up and contract details

His early efforts in 2024 for Trackhouse on the Aprilia RS-GP23 saw Fernandez sign his two-year contract directly to the US-owned team in July. Yet The Race now notes that Fernandez is likely dispensable after comments from Aprilia project leader Fabiano Sterlacchini on him.

Despite being Aprilia’s only point of continuity from 2024 into 2025 plus having tested their 2025 bike as early as September’s Misano test, Fernandez did not get their latest protype in the post-season test. Instead, he largely did comparisons across the 2023 and 2024 bikes.

Sterlacchini said Trackhouse ace Fernandez did not get Aprilia’s 2025 bike, which he should race, to test in Barcelona as ‘it’s difficult to arrive here with four [2025-spec] bikes for four riders’. But overlooking Fernandez gave a sign for how Aprilia consider the Trackhouse rider.

Raul Fernandez has earned praise but no podiums as a MotoGP rider

Fernandez has earned some admirers through his career in the MotoGP paddock, with 1993 500cc world champion Kevin Schwantz describing him as ‘an aggressive, fast and hard rider’ who ‘just needs a little fine-tuning’. But the Spaniard did not back up the praise with results.

Schwantz lauded Fernandez ahead of the 2024 MotoGP season, which proved to be his best year in the premier class so far. But despite posting a personal-best 66 points – aided in part by doing 20 races rather than 18 or 19 – Fernandez only sealed six top 10 Grand Prix results.

Four of those six top 10 results also came while Fernandez rode on the RS-GP23 bike before Aprilia switched the Trackhouse rider to their 2024 challenger from the British Grand Prix in August. Now, Fernandez never wants to swap bikes mid-season again after that experience.