Raúl Fernández had his best season in MotoGP this year. He finished 16th in the championship with 66 points, significantly surpassing his previous results from 2022 and 2023. However, it wasn’t an easy year.
The Trackhouse Racing rider had the older version of the Aprilia RS-GP until the German GP. Despite the technical disadvantage, he still fought for solid results.
From a pessimistic start to breakthrough
Fernández’s season started poorly: after two rounds, he had zero points and two retirements. But things began to change with a 10th place finish in Austin.
From then on, the Spaniard was consistently fighting for top-ten positions and even managed to beat other Aprilia riders – including his teammate Miguel Oliveira. The 2024 RS-GP was handed to him in the second half of the season, starting from the British GP.
However, the adaptation didn’t go as expected, and this marked his worst period of the year: seven rounds in 11 without scoring any points, with two 10th-place finishes as his best results. This seemed to contradict the work done behind the scenes.
It was a tough year for Fernández, who couldn’t even beat Oliveira, despite the Portuguese rider being absent due to injury for five rounds (he finished 11 points behind). In 2025, he will need to do more and better, especially as he will be the most experienced rider with the Aprilia RS-GP, even compared to the factory riders, who are also new to the Noale team.
Strength
Raúl Fernández had his best period of the season with the 2023 RS-GP. He managed to react to a challenging start, when his future wasn’t guaranteed, and was consistently in the top-ten battle until mid-season.
Weakness
His generally modest qualifying performances, as well as struggles in the Sprint races (he only scored points in three), were significant weaknesses for Raúl Fernández. As is well known, starting position in the current MotoGP is essential for race results.
Best moment
Before the summer break, Fernández achieved his best results of the year, with three top-ten finishes in four races. This was the strongest period of his season, including a sixth-place finish in Catalunya, which was his best result.
Worst moment
The second half of the season was a setback for Fernández: four consecutive Grands Prix without scoring any points, including two consecutive retirements. He never truly managed to recover from this, finishing with three more rounds without scoring any points.