MotoGP
Published on April 25, 2025 • 10:35 PM by Marc Sériau

MotoGP Spain Jerez FP1 LIVE: Alex Marquez, boom and bang!

The MotoGP FP1 session in Jerez marks the start of the European season, on older circuits that are very different from those encountered overseas...

For its fifth round, the world championship MotoGP landed on the European continent for the Spanish Grand Prix, which is taking place for the 39th time on the Angel Nieto circuit in Jerez de la Frontera, in Andalusia.

Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team), who had stumbled in the USA and lost the lead in the general classification, recovered perfectly in Qatar, regaining the lead in the general classification with a 17-point lead over the former leader, his brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP). 

Francis Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), which is nevertheless lining up solid weekends, cannot for the moment stem this wave of the Marquez brothers, but has built up a lead of 19 and 49 points over Franco Morbidely et Fabio Di Giannantonio, Both members du Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Teams are making a great collective start to the season. A reaction from "Pecco" is expected in Jerez, where the Italian has won the last three MotoGP races. Otherwise... 

First “non-Ducati” rider, Johann zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) is on a good trend after achieving 4th place in Qatar, its best result of 2025. Since the end of last year, Honda has changed its engine philosophy, and while it now lacks a little power, it allows for better agility, which is beneficial to the RC213V. The Frenchman, however, remains the most capable of exploiting it to the best of his ability, and that is to his credit...

Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) is doing what it can to make the RS-GP shine, but it is obvious that the speed of George Martin (Aprilia Racing) is greatly missed at the Noale factory. With a return currently undetermined but in any case a long way off, they have to do without, also counting on the rookie's astonishing performances. Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) despite its relative underperformance at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Sandwiched between the two Aprilias, fabio quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) is the best rider to defend Iwata's colors, despite recurring grip issues. The Frenchman's performance is nevertheless improving, although we would like to see faster progress from the YZR-M1.

Luca marini (Honda HRC Castrol) confirms the progress of the Honda in 9th position, but Peter Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) curiously leads a trio of RC16s including Maverick Vinales (Red Bull KTM Tech3) is excluded, even though he has had the best performance on track for Mattighofen so far. It remains to be seen whether the number 12 confirms in Andalusia what we saw in Qatar, as, in the same vein, the performance of Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), brilliant at Lusail…

We will also welcome the first wildcard ofAlex Espargaro (Honda HRC Test Team).

To write this fifth chapter of the 2025 MotoGP season, it will be necessary to cover the 14-meter track 4423 times during Saturday's Sprint and complete 25 laps on Sunday, on a track where all the records belong to Francis Bagnaia, except for the best maximum speed assigned to Johann zarco.

The Jerez circuit differs from the previous stages in its shorter length and is characterised by its two short straights and its triple right-hander leading to the final bend, a hairpin and the site of many controversial overtaking moves...
Overall, due to the powerful acceleration, heavy braking and lateral stresses, this technical track puts continuous demands on the tires.
Although asphalt is not considered particularly abrasive, the series of curves and the absence of long rest periods therefore place high demands on the tires, prompting Michelin to introduce, last season, a new, slightly harder rubber compound for the front wheel.

This is the 39th consecutive year that a GP has been held at Jerez since its debut in 1987. With two GPs in 2020, this will be the 40th GP at the circuit. Assen is the only current venue to hold more GPs in a row: 71 successive events from 1949 to 2019.

Among the current full-time MotoGP riders, Marc Marquez (3, in 2014, 2018, 2019) and Francis Bagnaia (3, in 2022, 2023, 2024) hold the most wins, ahead of fabio quartararo (2, in 2020/1, 2020/2) and Jack Miller (1, in 2021)

10 current riders have reached the podium in MotoGP,  Marc Marquez (8) Francesco Bagnaia (4) Maverick Vinales (3) fabio quartararo (3) Jack Miller (2) Johann zarco (1) alex rins (1) Franco Morbidelli (1) Brad Binder (1) et Marco Bezzecchi (1).
3 of them have already started in pole position, fabio quartararo (4) Marc Marquez (2) Francis Bagnaia (1).

The records are set in 1'36.025 (Francesco Bagnaia) since 2024, and 300,8 km/h for the speed per Johann zarco since 2021.

At the last edition in 2024, Francesco Bagnaia won the GP in front of Marc Marquez et Marco Bezzecchias Jorge Martin, Pedro Acosta et Dani Pedrosa climbed onto the Sprint podium.

For the fifth round of a 22-round season, we can count on unfailing sunshine, including Monday, the day of the test!

On the pilot side, Augusto Fernandez is still in the Pramac box on the motorcycle of Miguel Oliveira, while Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing) will return to service after a too brief interlude... while George Martin is only expected in Spain on Saturday, finally back from Qatar.

While waiting to discover more, as the 23 drivers prepare for this first 45-minute free practice session, under a clear sky and ideal temperatures of 21° in the air and 28° on the ground, let's enjoy these few moments of live coverage thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

Here is a table that summarizes the known facts:

MotoGP™ Jerez, Spain

2024

2025
FP1 1'36.630 Alex Marquez (See here) 1'36.831 Alex Marquez (See here)
Practice 1'36.025 Francesco Bagnaia (See here) (See here)
FP2 1'48.183 Marc Marquez (See here) (See here)
Q1 1'47.887 Franco Morbidelli (See here) (See here)
Q2 1'46.773 Marc Marquez (See here) (See here)
Sprint Martin, Acosta, Pedrosa (See here) (See here)
Warm Up 1'37.943 Alex Marquez (See here) (See here)
Course Bagnaia, Marc Marquez, Bezzecchi (See here) (See here)
All time lap record 1'36.025 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)

When the red lights go out... Jack Miller leaves it to no one to start the European season in front Alex Marquez, while fabio quartararo et Franco Morbidelli start last.

In terms of tires, everyone uses the soft at the front, the medium at the rear.

Maverick Vinales immediately set the first reference in 1'39.728 in front of Alex Espargaro but at the end of the first round launched, it is fabio quartararo who leads the way in 1'39.294.

In the next passage, Raul fernandez is in command in 1'38.479 ahead of Alex Marquez, Johann Zarco, Jack Miller and Pedro Acosta.

Alex Marquez then takes over in 1'37.686 in front Joan Mir, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Maverick Vinales and Jack Miller.

Number 73 improves to 1'37.239, now in front Joan Mir, Francesco Bagnaia, Johann Zarco and Fabio Di Giannantonio. The progress of Honda is undeniable...

At the end of this first run, the hierarchy is made up of Alex Márquez, Fabio Quartararo, Joan Mir, Francesco Bagnaia, Johann Zarco, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Maverick Viñales, Franco Morbidelli, Jack Miller, Marco Bezzecchi, Raul Fernandez, Ai Ogura, Enea Bastianini, Brad Binder, Luca Marini, Aleix Espargaro, Pedro Acosta, Fermin Aldeguer, Alex Rins, Augusto Fernandez, Lorenzo Savadori, Somkiat Chantra and Marc Márquez who still hasn't set a time!

The reason for this is not really known, as the Spanish champion has made several outings, returning straight to his box, or rather his brother's, showing his dashboard or his clutch master cylinder.

At the restart, number 93 immediately moved into 11th place, then improved on his second lap to take the lead in 1'37.188. Words are not needed...

Johann zarco, then seventh, takes the wheel of Marc Márquez but fails to improve. Meanwhile, Maverick Vinales progresses to 4th position while Alex Marquez made a minor mistake in the first bend.

Fifteen minutes before the checkered flag, the bikes return to their pits while the top 10 is made up of Marc Márquez, Alex Márquez, Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Viñales, Joan Mir, Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli, Johann Zarco, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Jack Miller.

Nine minutes from the end of the session, Alex Marquez sets off again with a set of new tires on his second GP24. Immediately at ease, he takes the lead in 1'36.831.

Jack Miller climbs back to 6th thanks to a set of new tires, while Johann Zarco, Luca Marini and Pedro Acosta left with hard front tires.

At the bottom of the ranking, Alex Rins, Aleix Espargaro, Enea Bastianini and Augusto Fernandez are fitted with new tires, which allows them to make some progress.

fabio quartararo, 3rd with 15-lap tires, stops his work session one minute from the checkered flag: mission accomplished.

In the end, besides the fact thatAlex Marquez was the fastest in FP1 as he did last year, it is interesting to note that on this circuit without a long straight the Yamaha and Honda are clearly in the provisional top 10, while at KTM, only Maverick Vinales seems at the moment to be able to get the most out of the RC 16.

See you at 15 p.m. for the pre-qualifying practice!

Results of FP1 of the 2025 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix, in Jerez: 

 Classification credit: MotoGP.com

MotoGP Jerez FP1 MotoGP Jerez FP1 MotoGP Jerez FP1