The 2025 MotoGP campaign is starting to take shape as all but one of the rides have been announced with the season opener also being confirmed.
This came after a dramatic silly season, where only three riders entered 2024 with a contract that guaranteed them a spot on the 2025 grid.
Marc Marquez, Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini are amongst the big names to have switched teams for next year, while it will also feature a squad partnering with a new manufacturer for the first time since 2003.
If 2024 is anything to go by, then 2025 should be a cracker. Martin currently leads the standings as he seeks a maiden crown, but the reigning, two-time world champion Francesco Bagnaia trails his Pramac rival by only seven points with seven rounds left.
The factory Ducati rider has actually scored five more grand prix victories than Martin, but the championship leader has been incredibly consistent in the sprint races recording only one finish outside of the top four as he retired in Mugello.
Marquez is also on the periphery, as the third-placed rider is 53 points behind Martin after scoring back-to-back victories at Aragon and Misano which were his first wins of the season.
Yet two of the top three are still moving on next year, as is much of the grid, so here is everything to know about the 2025 MotoGP season.
2025 MotoGP rider line-up
The rider market for 2025 has been one of the craziest in recent memory as it was only Bagnaia (Ducati), Brad Binder (KTM) and Johann Zarco (LCR) who entered this year already under contract for next season.
In March it was then announced that Moto2’s Fermin Aldeguer had signed a Ducati factory contract, so it simply became a matter of the Italian marque finding him a spot with one of its satellite teams. That was eventually announced as Gresini in August and the 19-year-old will replace eight-time world champion Marquez.
The MotoGP legend was the biggest story of the rider market, as a U-turn saw Marquez land a spot with the factory Ducati squad instead of Martin. In 2024, Marquez has competed for Gresini in his first non-factory ride since joining MotoGP in 2013 after a title-winning stint with Honda.
And on the eve of the Italian Grand Prix, it appeared as though Ducati had decided to place Martin at its factory team with Marquez going to Pramac on works machinery. But the 31-year-old wasn’t happy, stating his only options were the works team or staying at Gresini on a factory bike.
So in fear of losing Marquez to a rival, Ducati promoted him to its factory squad causing Martin to sign with the Aprilia works outfit. This is in place of the retiring Aleix Espargaro and Martin will partner Marco Bezzecchi, who is joining Aprilia from the VR46 squad.
Pedro Acosta was another big story of the rider market, as the 20-year-old is set for his debut at the KTM factory squad after impressing at its satellite team Tech3 during his rookie campaign. Acosta, a previous winner of the Moto2 and Moto3 titles, has scored three grand prix podiums in 2024 while regularly beating team-mate Augusto Fernandez who is without a ride for next season.
The Spaniard will replace Jack Miller, who is expected to join the new-look Pramac squad, and Acosta will partner Binder who has been with KTM since his Moto3 days in 2015.
In total, 14 of the 22 seats will be occupied by a different rider in 2025, a year where there will be three rookies in MotoGP - Ai Ogura, Aldeguer and Somkiat Chantra.
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Team
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Constructor
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Rider
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Contract deadline
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Rider
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Contract deadline
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Ducati
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Ducati
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Francesco Bagnaia
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End 2026
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Marc Marquez
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End 2026
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KTM
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KTM
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Brad Binder
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End 2026
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Pedro Acosta
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Multi-year
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Aprilia
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Aprilia
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Jorge Martin
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Multi-year
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Marco Bezzecchi
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Multi-year
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Yamaha
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Yamaha
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End 2026
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End 2026
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Honda
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Honda
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End 2025
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End 2026
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Pramac
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Yamaha
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End 2026
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TBC
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TBC
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LCR
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Honda
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Johann Zarco
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End 2025
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Somkiat Chantra
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End 2025
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Gresini
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Ducati
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End 2026
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Fermin Aldeguer
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End 2026
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VR46
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Ducati
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End 2026
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End 2025
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Trackhouse
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Aprilia
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Raul Fernandez
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End 2026
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Ai Ogura
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End 2026
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Tech3
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KTM
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Maverick Vinales
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Multi-year
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Enea Bastianini
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Multi-year
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Is any MotoGP team changing its bike for 2025?
Pramac Racing will end its 20-year Ducati association by partnering with Yamaha for 2025 on a seven-year contract. As part of the move, Pramac will use full factory bikes from the Japanese marque while it will also receive long-term stability having ended its Ducati contract two years early.
That’s because Ducati put the expiration date of renewal as the end of 2026, a decision that is the origin of the disagreement between the Italian manufacturer and team owner Paolo Campinoti. This led to the premature break-up, which came just after Ducati decided to not promote Martin to its full works outfit from Pramac.
Pramac will therefore end Yamaha’s two-year stint without a satellite team, as it last worked with RNF Racing – which transformed into Trackhouse - who subsequently moved to Aprilia for 2022. In the time since, Yamaha has become the second-worst constructor on the grid, so it is unknown how Pramac may fare given its Ducati partnership yielded the teams’ title in 2023.
2025 MotoGP calendar
The 2025 MotoGP calendar is yet to be fully confirmed, though it was announced in August that Thailand will host the season opener on the 2 March. This will be the first time the South-East Asian country has opened a MotoGP campaign since it joined the calendar in 2018, as the Thailand GP has traditionally been held in October while Qatar is usually the first round but cannot be in 2025 due to Ramadan.
Thailand is one of only five races to have so far been given a provisional date for 2025, as the French GP at Circuit Bugatti is happening on the 9-11 May with the British GP on the 23-25 May. That means the Silverstone event has been brought forward by two months in a bid to attract more fans, as part of a big reshuffle for the MotoGP calendar.
Elsewhere, the German GP is due for the 11-13 July while the Red Bull Ring will host the Austrian GP on the 15-17 August. The winter test schedule has also been announced with Valencia hosting the first event on the 19 November ahead of two sessions in Malaysia on the 31 January to 2 February and 5-7 February.
A final pre-season test will be held at the Thai circuit on 12-13 February ahead of the season-opening grand prix on 28 February-2 March.
2025 MotoGP regulation changes
MotoGP will undergo minimal changes for 2025 as it is largely preparing for the regulation switch in 2027.
But there are still some changes being made, as tyre supplier Michelin is set to introduce a revised front tyre to cope with extra loads generated by aerodynamics and ride-height devices, while helping to overcome temperature and pressure sensitivity when closely following another bike.
This is happening because the 2024 championship has been plagued by issues with front tyre pressure, largely caused by new aerodynamics and ride height devices. So, by trying to anticipate how much the internal tyre pressure will fluctuate during a race, teams have often illegally run low pressures causing riders to be demoted in the results.
The new tyre was first used in an official test at Misano, where Michelin’s MotoGP boss Piero Taramasso claimed it is popular across the grid.
A freeze on engine development for 2025 is also set to be approved by the FIM’s Grand Prix Commission and it will last until 2027. This is being done to keep costs under control before the regulation change, which will see the current 1000cc engines replaced by a smaller 850cc version to improve safety.
However, Yamaha and Honda are expected to be exempt from this engine freeze as the Japanese manufacturers currently occupy the bottom two positions of the championship and are significantly behind their rivals. They will only be exempt should their results not improve though and this is not the first time MotoGP has implemented the engine freeze strategy after using it through the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the championship is largely gearing up for the regulation switch in 2027, which will see a reduction in aerodynamics alongside engine size to improve the racing spectacle. All ride height devices will also be banned, while the minimum bike weight will decrease from 157kg to 153kg and fuel tank capacity for a grand prix will go from 22 litres to 20 and 12 to 11 for the sprint.
These are just a few of many changes occurring for 2027 in what will be a complete overhaul of MotoGP’s technical regulations.
