As per Xmas tradition, Carlo Pernat's report cards have arrived! In yesterday's episode of our Bar Sport (which you can see in full above), the Ligurian manager gave the MotoGP riders the grades they deserve at the end of this long and intense season. No concessions from Carletto, who was not particularly convinced by the performance expressed by most of the riders on the grid.
Somkiat Chantra: N/A
"It's nice, even from Dorna, to say that we need riders from all over the world. Conceptually it's also right, because then you sell the product in other countries as well, however, if there are riders in other countries who normally cannot do the MotoGP World Championship and they take away the place of a very strong young rider, I personally disagree. I would give a 5 to Dorna for this risky choice and to the rider a vote of Not Applicable: if they propose you to be the head of Sky and they pay you, you go. It's clear that you have nothing to do with the decision."
Lorenzo Savadori: Ample sufficiency
"He did what Aprilia asked him to do and he also did it well, because if the bike has been developed and is going well, the credit is also his. We know he's not such a competitive rider to be in amongst the top guys, but he does his fair share. So I would give him a high enough rating for what he has done and what Aprilia has technically become."
Jorge Martin: N/A
"If we want to tell it like it is, he even risked quitting racing because of the fear he got. I have the impression that it is difficult to get rid of that fear, because I have seen riders who then race with fear on the bike. Like Lorenzo, for example, and when you have fear, you don't open the throttle. You can't give him a grade. I'm waiting for him, hoping it will be positive, because Aprilia deserves to see Martin the way he was before. He's surrounded by a big question mark, though, and I have a feeling that Aprilia is going to have a hard time getting him into the right shape, because he's going to have to adjust to how strong Bezzecchi is going, and to do that you have to take risks. There are so many things that make me think it won't be an easy comeback."
Miguel Oliveira: 4
"He was a big disappointment, because I think he's a very strong rider. He showed us Grands Prix where he fought with the top guys for podiums and showed us that he was a MotoGP rider, but he didn't show us that continuity and that strength to be a MotoGP rider. The first worst thing for a rider is non-continuity, because it's not the Grand Prix you win that counts but what you do in the next two or three, because if you're in the top five it means you're that kind of rider. If not, it means it was an isolated exploit."
Alex Rins: 5
"Looking at the ranking and the results, I would have to give him a 3. The Yamaha isn't a great bike, but what Quartararo showed, in part, he had to show as well. In his favor, though, he unfortunately had the bad crash he had. You can see he's not well and he's limping, and I think racing in those conditions is the hardest thing in the world."
Maverick Vinales: 6
"In normal conditions, he showed that he was going well with the KTM. If you're in the top five for so many Grands Prix, it means you're doing well and you're a Top 5 rider even with a bike that's not comparable to the others. Then he crashed and got hurt too, but I have to give him sufficiency, because there was a moment when we were all saying that Vinales was holding up the KTM almost as well as Acosta, or maybe even more than him. I am convinced that if the KTM is okay, he will have a good championship next year."
Jack Miller: 5
"I have always 'doted' on him, because he is a rider who encapsulates the essence of the true biker. The bread and salami one, nice and a bit 'rough' around the edges, who if he smoked would have a cigarette on the podium like Lucchinelli. If you like, he is a bit like the last of the Mohicans. He got back into the game thanks to Dorna and Campinoti, who wanted the Australian at the expense of young riders and did well, because Australia is a good market and Miller is not Chantra. He had some good races, however, he is not 'my' Miller, so I give him 5."
Ai Ogura: 5.5
"If I have to compare him to Aldeguer, he loses out a lot. But it's clear that, in his defense, there is a Ducati on one side and a second team Aprilia on the other. He was off to an impressive start, then the crashes hurt him more than Aldeguer, but by the end of the season he had recovered."
Joan Mir: 6
"Maybe 6 is also a lot, however, he deserves it. Meanwhile, because he accepted a Honda that was not in a condition to make the same results as before. He put in his own effort, he achieved some results that he deserved, and I want to see him back at the test with a more competitive Honda, like the one he has now. For the first part I would give him a 4, for the second part an 8, so the grade is 6."
Enea Bastianini: 5
"It's difficult for me to give Enea a grade, but I have to give him a 5. He put everything into it and at a certain moment he and Pigiamino (his crew chief Giribuola, ed.) had almost found the square and in the last three GPs of the first part of the season he was in the top five, even starting well. That means he was there as a rider, and for me the fundamental mistake was that Pigiamino left. I would have expected a different season, but anyone who comes off a Ducati, and has never ridden another bike, always struggles."
Luca Marini: 5.5
"I'm undecided whether to give him a sufficiency or a 5.5. He had a good championship, and maybe he was the spearhead for Honda's development, so I give him a grade a little higher than a 5. I give him a 5.5 because he was behind all the other Honda riders, podium-wise."
Johann Zarco: 6
"I should give him the same grade as Marini, because I should give him an 8 for the first part of the season, but then he went blind all of a sudden and had a very bad second part of the season. You can give him 6 because he won one race, but not more."
Brad Binder: 5
"To Binder I have to give an insufficiency as to Bastianini, also because he was in an official team. In the situation that was there, the first bikes that were set up were his and Acosta's. KTM had given him enormous confidence with a 3-year contract. I expected more from him."
Raul Fernandez: 6
"I give him a sufficiency for the second part of the season, because the first part was a 4: at one point we thought we had lost him. He is a protégé of Rivola, he went to a good structure, with a very experienced team manager like Davide Brivio, who worked a lot on him. I give him a 6, because in the second half of the year he showed that he is a good rider, and when it is the second half, and not the first half as in the case of Zarco, it means that you have worked well to achieve the result. But next year he has to do more: the Top 10 is not enough to make the result."
Fabio Quartararo: 6
"It is difficult to give Fabio a grade, because he has an explosive talent and goes beyond what he has to give. This is sometimes good for a manufacturer, because it brings you in front of a limit you don't know if you are there, and sometimes it is bad, because you crash, you don't get to the bottom and you don't bring data. I still give him a sufficiency, because he carried on the work himself, he never backed down, and even though he sometimes overdid it by riding at 120 percent, he always gives it his all. He could have won at Silverstone, without that technical problem, and there he could have been given even a 7."
Fermin Aldeguer: 6
"I give him a sufficiency. First because he won Rookie of the Year and also won a race. I expected less from him after the devastating championship he had last year in Moto2. He was lucky enough to happen upon a private team that is stronger than anyone else right now, professionally, technically and also from a management point of view. Having such a team does so much: it means having a 30 percent that you didn't know and that is given to you by them, but he has shown that he is very strong and could be a nice surprise."
Franco Morbidelli: 5
"I give him an insufficiency. With what he did in the past and what he could do with this team and this bike, I expected a different Morbidelli: with more podiums and that he could even win a Grand Prix. You can't give him a 4 because some podiums he did, but with that bike it's a 5 more leaning towards low than high. Incidents like Portimao don't erase them."
Fabio Di Giannantonio: 5
"I can't give him a sufficiency, because I expected him to be an outsider. He must surely have had problems with the 2025 bike as well, however, he also did some Grand Prixs that were not up to his standards."
Francesco Bagnaia: 4
"I would be inclined to say that he is not applicable, but if I have to give him a grade, it's a 4. I don't give him a 5, because he is the one who did worse than anyone else with that bike. It's clear that he suffered Marquez from the very first moment, there is no doubt about that: everything that was easy before became difficult and what was difficult before became impossible. It's not possible to see something like that, until the end of the championship, with a team with which he knows inside out. He was wrong and so was Ducati to some extent. I give him all the excuses I can, but with what happened, 4 seems a good grade to me. He is a champion, who has won two World Championships, and he suffered a superhero they put next to him, just in the year when he (Marquez) would have gone over everyone with a steamroller to win."
Pedro Acosta: 7
"I give him more than Quartararo, because he was able to take a KTM that had big problems to the end of several races. He crashed many times, however, he overdid it less than Fabio. He did it in a few races, where he felt he could win or make podiums, and then he made mistakes. But in the others he was content to do 4th, 5th or a 3rd at a stretch. Maybe the KTM allowed it and the Yamaha didn't, but I give him a 7 for what he showed."
Marco Bezzecchi: 8
"An 8, minimum, he deserves it, because he isn't a talent like Marc Marquez, Quartararo or Acosta, but he showed that he made an incredible leap at a mental level. I don't know if it was luck or not that since Martin wasn't there he had to take on all the development, but he did lead Aprilia, taking the whole team with him. Great riders make teams, both Marquez and Valentino have shown that, and he is that kind of rider. He is one of the few riders to show that he is not afraid of Marquez, even when he is close to him. Then it's clear that Marquez is Marquez, but it's a well-deserved 8. Carved in stone."
Alex Marquez: 8
"I give him the same grade as Bezzecchi. First, because he already had a very strong team, the best team there is in MotoGP. Second, because he had the best bike this year. For the first part of the season I would have given him a 9. But then there was the crash at Assen, in which he hurt his finger, and his season changed for the worse. He did some not very good Grands Prix, so much so that in that mini championship that was there after Marc got hurt, he won over Bezzecchi but by a few points. He was his brother's first antagonist, but after that crash he wasn't either."
Marc Marquez: 10, A-plus with a big hug from university
"To a guy who comes back from hell like that, gives up the money and everything else, and goes there because he wants to crush the opposition and he does it, what do you want to say to him? I could give him something less for the crash, but I won't: A-plus with a big hug from university."