Raúl Fernández explains the reasons for his mistake at the first corner of the Italian GP

After another excellent start, Fernández showed his teeth against pole-sitter Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) as soon as they entered the first corner of the Italian Grand Prix at Mugello. However, the Spanish rider ran wide in the first corner, finding himself almost at the back of the pack as they approached the first chicanes of the Tuscan circuit. The number 25 rider believes this was due to a slight problem when downshifting from sixth to second gear; the second gear didn't engage as it should, which caused him to run wide.

“First of all, I have to apologize to the team for that start. Something quite strange happened because since Saturday, I had a reference point I was braking at, at the first white line. This Sunday, when I braked and downshifted, second gear wouldn't engage, so I had to brake a bit harder with the front brake. Marco didn't make a mistake, but he changed lines, he was sliding a bit, and that gave me a little slipstream, so I had to brake even harder, I couldn't stop the bike anymore and I went wide. It was strange because the gearbox worked fine, but second gear just wouldn't engage at that moment.”

Although he was subsequently able to climb back up the standings to score points for eighth place, Raúl Fernández believes that this positive point actually adds to the difficulty of seeing the glass half full, after a fundamentally successful weekend for the winner of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix: “I feel really bad for the team and for Aprilia; we had a great opportunity this Sunday. Now we have to look ahead to Balaton, take the positives, and especially the fact that I climbed from 18th to eighth place after some great battles. I feel really strange right now, honestly.”

If he had been able to win in Australia last year, and at the same time secure his first victory in MotoGPRaúl Fernández hadn't had the chance to truly feel like one of the favorites for victory on Sunday since then. However, this didn't cause him any nervousness before a start that was expected to be very close, especially with the two factory Aprilias flanking him on the front row of the grid.

“In Australia, I won the Grand Prix, but today was the first time I felt really this strong. This morning, even on worn tires, I was still putting in some very good laps during the warm-up, and I felt even better than during the Sprint. Maybe that's why I had even bigger ambitions. I also have to say that I wasn't nervous; I clearly knew what I had to do in the first corner… I can't explain how I feel right now, I feel bad, really.”

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