Where Honda and Yamaha stack up at the start of 2025 MotoGP season

Honda gained the inter-Japanese contest within the Thai Grand Prix after Johann Zarco completed seventh on the perfect of the RC213Vs, 4 locations forward of the highest-placed Yamaha of Jack Miller.

Nonetheless, this doesn’t essentially imply Honda is beginning the 2025 season forward of Yamaha within the pecking order. The fact, as all the time, is extra difficult, and a transparent reply gained’t be out there till each bikes have been run on all kinds of tracks. For now, there are each encouraging and worrying indicators within the two garages.

So far as Honda is worried, the opening spherical of the 2025 season was an enormous success. Each Joan Mir and Johann Zarco made it into Q2, and the previous’s greatest time of 1m29.422s was virtually 4 tenths up on what any Honda rider managed in qualifying ultimately 12 months’s Thai GP, which happened a little bit over 4 months in the past in October. The hole to pole place was 0.640s, which once more compares very favourably to the 1.1s deficit Honda confronted on the similar observe in 2024.

Mir bagged a solitary level within the dash in ninth place, with Zarco following him over the road in tenth, nevertheless it was Sunday’s race the place Honda actually shone. Mir rose from eleventh on the grid to run a stable seventh till he crashed out simply after the midway level of the race. After his exit, LCR sophomore Zarco carried on the great work, bringing residence 9 factors for seventh place. He sat tenth for the primary half of the competition, however as soon as his medium rear tyre began to click on, he was capable of make severe inroads. The truth that he completed simply three tenths behind the manufacturing facility Aprilia of Marco Bezzecchi was proof of the leap Honda has remodeled the winter.

Zarco’s deficit to race winner Marc Marquez was additionally simply 15 seconds. A direct comparability to the 2024 Thai GP isn’t potential, as that race was run within the moist, nevertheless it’s value declaring that lead Honda riders generally completed as a lot as 40 seconds behind the race winner in 2024. Hardly ever was the deficit below 20 seconds within the second half of final season.

Maybe probably the most under-the-radar efficiency on the Thai GP got here from Luca Marini. The Italian dropped close to the tail finish of the pack after failing to have interaction the launch management system at first, however was capable of steadily get well misplaced floor to complete a stable twelfth on the manufacturing facility HRC.

Marini believes Honda has discovered 4 tenths over the winter break, which isn’t any small achievement given the timescale concerned.

“I feel if we examine our tempo, [it is] 4 tenths [faster] in comparison with final 12 months,” he stated. “Perhaps we have been 1.2s behind final 12 months, perhaps in the meanwhile we’re 0.8s.

“However we do not know Marquez, how a lot he has in his pocket, [he was] nonetheless managing loads within the entrance. They’ll go up a little bit bit however there’s a restrict in the meanwhile that you simply can not go quicker with these tyres.

“The tyres are superb as a result of we’re doing the lap occasions in an unimaginable approach and likewise very continuously in the course of the races, however absolutely we will get nearer to them in the course of the 12 months. I hope sooner.”

Luca Marini, Honda HRC

Photograph by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Pictures

Mir too was completely impressed with Honda’s progress, despite the fact that he did not see the chequered flag following his shunt on lap 15.

“I feel we’d have been capable of be very near the highest 5 with the tempo that we have been exhibiting,” he stated. “That is one thing I used to be not capable of present to you at any race final 12 months. It implies that we’re on the way in which. We have been robust, so I am blissful.”

Nonetheless, Honda continues to be missing engine energy in comparison with its rivals, which means it nonetheless hasn’t mounted one of many long-running weaknesses of its MotoGP prototype.

“I assume right here it was tougher for us as a result of it appears in Malaysia our engine was higher than in Thailand, so perhaps the warmth was giving us extra drawback than the opposite manufacturers,” defined Zarco. “Let’s examine in a spot the place it will likely be regular temperature if we catch again this drawback.”

It could be unfair to debate Yamaha’s Thai GP weekend with out mentioning its qualifying efficiency. Miller guided the Pramac-entered M1 to an unimaginable fourth place in qualifying, simply 0.308s off pole place. Whereas he benefited from following the Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia on observe, Fabio Quartararo made it instantly via Q2 and certified one other three tenths adrift in tenth, proving Yamaha’s one-lap tempo was real.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Manufacturing facility Racing

Photograph by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Pictures

Quartararo then rose to seventh in Saturday’s dash race, which meant Yamaha beat Honda within the first points-scoring contest of 2025.

The primary race, nonetheless, was a unique story, the place the last word potential of the M1 was masked by a number of unrelated points.

Miller held a stable sixth place till lap 16 of 26 and was heading in the right direction to equal Yamaha’s greatest results of 2024, achieved by Quartararo within the Indonesian GP. Nonetheless, he quickly tumbled down the order after a clip on the fairing turned free and he needed to provide you with ingenious methods to maintain it in place.

“I had a little bit difficulty with the fairing on lap 8 after I misplaced contact with the entrance group,” he defined. “One of many clips sadly popped out and the entire fairing form of began deploying. Aero today is crucial to assist the bike flip in.

“The factor was, whenever you rise up to hurry it sort of pops up much more, and I bought nervous doing 330km/h down the again straight that it was going to deploy, and I used to be making an attempt to carry it collectively as a lot as I may.”

Jack Miller, Pramac Racing

Photograph by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Pictures

Extremely, Miller was nonetheless capable of end as the highest Yamaha rider in eleventh place. That was as a result of Yamaha’s prime gun Quartararo bumped into his personal set of issues and will solely salvage a single level in fifteenth.

Beginning eleventh on the grid, the Frenchman slumped to nineteenth in simply the primary two laps, leaving him with a mountain to climb within the the rest of the race. He profited from retirements for Mir and Raul Fernandez, plus a crash for Acosta.

Quartararo had been battling the entrance tyre within the Buriram take a look at in February and that difficulty seemingly carried over into the race weekend. Worse nonetheless, even the rear tyre wasn’t working to his liking within the race, leaving him a sitting duck within the opening laps.

“To start with we had a difficulty with the grip, I used to be struggling quite a bit. To start with my thought was to heat up the tyre,” he stated. “Within the first lap I couldn’t push, I may probably not lean the bike and the bike was simply sliding, so I misplaced numerous positions.”

In an interview with French broadcaster Canal+, he added: “We’re taking a look at what occurred within the first laps, and the entire race.

“Clearly, within the first laps we actually had bother with the rear tyre. We knew concerning the entrance tyre, however we did not assume it was going to be so difficult with the rear tyre. From the warm-up lap, we had a little bit of a technique to heat it up, to push from the beginning, however I could not even flip for 2 or three laps. It was fairly troublesome.”

Alex Rins, Yamaha Manufacturing facility Racing

Photograph by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Pictures

Miguel Oliveira completed 14th for Pramac, whereas Alex Rins was working contained in the factors till he dropped to seventeenth late within the race whereas battling with overheating points on his manufacturing facility M1.

As such, it’s exhausting to gauge the true efficiency of Yamaha after the primary race of the season. It’s value taking into consideration that Buriram was by no means anticipated to be a robust observe for the Iwata-based model, with pre-season testing confirming that the M1 nonetheless struggles in low-grip situations.

It’s unlikely Yamaha’s fortunes will enhance in Argentina, which hasn’t hosted a MotoGP race in virtually two years, whereas Austin can be notorious for its lack of grip. Yamaha riders will not be capable of take full benefit of the progress the Japanese marque made within the low season till later within the 12 months.