With five world champions on the grid, the 2025 MotoGP season promises to be explosive

A royal field will be presented in Buriram on March 2 for the Thailand Grand Prix. Only two of the eleven teams will keep the same driver duo as in 2024, a sign that the end of contracts of some and others has caused a great upheaval. Far from the tumult caused by the announced arrival of Lewis Hamilton in Ferrari, the other transfer of the century shook the paddocks of MotoGP.

After a year of transition at Gresini, Marc Marquez leaves Nadia Padovani's team to join the Ducati factory team. Stamped Honda, with whom he raced for eleven years, despite highs (6 titles) and lows (repeated injuries and operations since 2020), Marc Marquez is preparing to don the characteristic red of the Italians. The native of Cervera (Catalonia) will team up with Francesco Bagnaia, another world champion who won twice in 2022 and 2023. In total, there are five of them who have already experienced the firmament of the world speed championship on the grid in 2025, a record since the birth of the category in 2002.

13 world champions out of 22 riders in MotoGP in 2025… 

In addition to the Ducati duo, Jorge Martin, freshly crowned with Pramac last November, is learning to discover Aprilia, whose factory team colours he will wear with former VR46 academy resident Marco Bezzecchi. 2021 world champion and the first Frenchman to win the title in the premier class, fabio quartararo continues his journey at Yamaha after signing a tempting contract extension a few months ago, which made him the highest paid rider on the grid. Finally, Joan Mir, the surprising 2020 champion with just one victory, should once again languish at the back of the standings with a Honda that is significantly behind the competition.

Quartararo, M. Marquez, Mir and Bagnaia (left to right) are all MotoGP world champions. @DPPI

In addition to the MotoGP world champions, there will be 13 with at least one world title (in Moto2 or Moto3) on the 2025 grid. Among them, Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) is a double Moto2 world champion, a category whose reigning winner, Ai Ogura, will make his debut with Trackhouse, Aprilia's satellite team. The Japanese has succeeded Pedro Acosta in the prize list, crushing in 2023 and shining in his first season in MotoGP (6th).

Franco Morbidelli (VR46, 2017), Alex Márquez (Gresini, 2019), Enea Bastianini (KTM Tech3, 2020) have also been Moto2 world champions, as have Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, who have gone on to achieve success at the higher level. Finally, Maverick Viñales (KTM Tech3, 2013) and Brad Binder (KTM, 2016) are Moto3 world champions. It should be noted that only Marc Marquez has so far managed to be crowned in all three categories, but Pedro Acosta could follow suit if his immense potential is confirmed.

…and 16 Grand Prix winners

Furthermore, without counting the three rookies – Fermin Aldeguer at Gresini, Ai Ogura at Trackhouse and Somkyat Chantra at LCR Honda – 16 of the 19 riders have already won at least one Grand Prix in MotoGP. Pedro Acosta has not yet had this chance, like Luca Marini and Alex Marquez. Winning a Grand Prix in 2025 is likely to be difficult for them, except for Alex Marquez who will have at Gresini the formidable GP24 which won sixteen of the twenty races last season.

The new GP25 will be reserved for the factory team riders – Marc Marquez and Francesco Bagnaia – and Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46). The dictatorship inflicted by Ducati, who only missed one race in 2024, does not seem ready to stop, despite the drop in the number of Desmosedici on the grid. With the departure of Pramac from its fold for Yamaha, the Borgo Panigale brand only has six bikes divided between three teams while the other manufacturers (Yamaha, Honda, Aprilia and KTM) each have four. In terms of numbers, the forces are balancing out, but in terms of performance, the gap remains huge… With the help of the dealerships, the Japanese manufacturers should make up some of their lost time, but seeing Fabio Quartararo or Johann Zarco win a race again in the coming months seems purely utopian, except in extremely favourable racing circumstances. However, fighting in the midfield with rivals of this calibre remains a challenge that is far from easy to overcome.

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