(Also a preview of what is coming in 2027)
In 2025 the MotoGP season will grow to an even bigger 22 action packed weekends.
Schedule Changes
- The season will kick off earlier than normal starting on February 28 with the season opener at the Buriram Racetrack in Thailand.
- This will mark the first time in 25 years that an Asian race track will host a season opener and a shift away from Qatar and its night time race.
- Thailand will also be the season opener for the 2026 season.
- Why the shift from Qatar? Due to an even earlier start Qatar has been moved to the fourth round because of Ramadan.
- Silverstone will move to May rather than later in the season.
- Catalunya will move from May to September and there will be no triple headers this season.
- Kazakhstan has been removed after failing to make an appearance the past two years despite being in the schedule.
- India will be on hold until 2026 but has been placed on reserve status for 2025 should there be a need for a backup circuit.
- 2025 will see the return of Argentina to the calendar following the government pulling out in 2024 due to serious economic problems for the country.
- Brno in Czechia which was last visited in 2020 and Balaton Park in Hungary, not seen since 1992 will also be returning.
- With Balaton being a new track in Hungary, it is subject to homologation.
Even though there are 22 rounds, meaning a possible 44 races, it is rare for every round to go ahead and as we all know due to weather and other unforeseen circumstances usually the reason for a few cancellations or replacement tracks.
The full 2025 calendar is as follows:
A new Satellite team
After a two-year break Yamaha will again have a satellite team following the early exit of Pramac from Ducati. Yamaha has been at the bottom of the rankings the past few years along with Honda.
Without a satellite team its development and progress has been drastically limited, there is hope having the chance to take over Pramac from Ducati will bring Yamaha into podium contention again.
This also affects which satellite team will have access to the factory bike from Ducati. Recently that prize has gone to Pramac, with its riders having access to the same bike as the Factory team. That will now be enjoyed by the VR46 Ducati team.
We wish Pramac Yamaha all the best in its first season and hope for Yamaha's sake this new satellite team yields the results the factory desperately needs.
Team Changes and New Riders
Perhaps the most watched new partnership is that of Marquez and Bagnaia for Factory Ducati.
The decision by Ducati to bypass Jorge Martin, the current world champion, was met with shock by many.
It did not go over too well with Jorge and he decided to leave Ducati altogether and sign up with Aprilia.
Many questioned if it was a fair decision by Ducati to overlook a younger rider who by all accounts was taking the season by storm in favour of an aging rider who has not been at the top of his game for the past few years following serious injuries.
Only time will tell if this was the right decision or not, but it is entirely clear Ducati has had its eye on Marquez for a long time now.
With him finally being available after parting ways with Honda there was almost no chance they were not going to snap him up even if only for the popularity of the Marquez name appearing on their banner.
With Marquez and Bagnaia leading the way for Factory Ducati it is going to be a very exciting season with many fans watching closely to see how the two famed riders get on as teammates.
There is now the added spice that following the disappointing testing of the 2025 bike, Ducati has decided to revert to the all conquering 2024 machine.
Jorge will join Marco Bezzecchi in Aprilia and hopes to do everything he can to lead the way in 2025 as the current World Champion.
Of course, with Ducati debating between Jorge and Marquez for most of 2024 it meant no place in the Factory team was going to be offered to Bastianini who signed on early with Red Bull KTM Tech 3.
Other big changes include the decision by Red Bull to sign Pedro Acosta instead of Jack Miller.
As the season rolled on many believed Miller's time in the paddock was over until the eleventh hour when the new Pramac Yamaha team signed him on to join Miguel Oliveira.
As for team name changes, we will see not only Pramac Ducati become Pramac Yamaha, we will no longer see the well-known orange Repsol Honda on the track anymore.
Factory Honda will now be Castrol Honda.
As well as being the new face of the Honda livery, it will also provide the lubricants, fuels and technical support.
The Honda test team will consist of Stefan Bradl, Aleix Espargaro and Takaaki Nakagami.
See below for the full paddock line up for 2025
Welcome Rookies!
In 2025 we will welcome three Rookies to the MotoGP paddock: Fermin Aldeguer, Somkiat Chantra and Ai Ogura.
Aldeguer will join Alex Marquez in the Gresini garage.
Ogura, the first Japanese rider to win a championship in 15 years, will take up residence with Trackhouse Racing with Raul Fernandez.
We also welcome the first Thai rider to ever have a seat in the MotoGP paddock. Somikat Chantra will replace Takaaki Nakagami at LCR alongside Johann Zarco.
The 2025 grid is as follows:
Rule changes for 2025
For the 2025 season we will see minimal changes as the championship prepares for a big regulation change in 2027.
What does this mean?
First to note is the engine freeze which has been put in place.
The leading constructors cannot develop their engines following the submission of engines for 2025.
Exempt from the freeze are Yamaha and Honda who enjoy the D ranking in the concession points system.
The big question is how much money they will throw at refining machinery that will be largely obsolete by 2027, while also continuing to prepare for the new regulations for 2027.
For more on MotoGP Engines see our article on the ultimate guide to MotoGP engines.
Concession Ranking for the 2025 Season
Concession rankings will remain the same for the 2025 season. While it was anticipated the concessions would help limit Ducati’s reign over the podium it ultimately had little to no effect on the 2024 season.
Yamaha and Honda continued to underperform and the only real change was watching Aprilia slip slightly further towards a D ranking.
Time will tell if over the 2025 and 2026 development and engine freezes in place and a Yamaha satellite team will help close the gap.
- Ducati: A
- KTM: C
- Aprilia: C
- Yamaha: D
- Honda: D
Ranking D means they are entitled to:
- free private testing at any GP circuit
- a full six wildcards,
- more testing tyres than any other make
- more engines per season
- and an extra aerodynamic update.
There is also a change to when the benefits of the system are given or taken from the team.
If a team should change ranks during window 2 (so after the summer test ban but before the next summer test ban), then the following concessions change immediately:
- Test tyre allowance will be reduced/increased as per their rank – unless the manufacturer has already used more tyres than the number they have been reduced to
- Private testing with or without contracted riders
- Testing at any GP circuit or three manufacturer-nominated circuits for the remainder of the season
- Wildcard allowance increased or reduced. This includes the cancellation of any wildcards that had already been approved by the GPC for the period after the test ban.
- Aero updates will be reduced/increased as per their rank (unless manufacturer has already used more aero specifications than the ones reduced to).
- If changing down from Rank C to D: Engine allowance increased, free engine specification, and one more aero update allowed if a previous iteration is discarded
Changes for the following season if changing ranks in window 2 are as follows:
If changing up from Rank D to C - Engine allowance reduced, engine specification frozen UNLESS the manufacturer returns to Rank D by the end of the season.
Now this seems confusing and again it's maths in MotoGP, but it will add another dimension to the racing, more parity among the bikes and therefore closer racing is what they hope for.
This table shows how the concessions will work and is very helpful to get a clear understanding of how it will impact teams.
* Wildcards are not subject to engine specification freeze. A maximum of three wildcards can be used before the summer test ban and a maximum of three wildcards after the summer test ban.
** Must discard a previous aero specification.
Brembo Brakes and MotoGP
This year Brembo celebrates 50 years in motor racing.
To help mark this momentous occasion the company has planned a series of special events throughout the year.
They will also release a new logo for the year specifically dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Brembo in motorsports.
Matteo Tiraboschi, executive chairman of Brembo Group made the following statement on the special celebrations ahead…
“We are proud to celebrate this racing anniversary,” said Matteo Tiraboschi, executive chairman of Brembo Group. “Thanks to 50 years of top-level experience, today all Formula 1 and MotoGP teams choose Brembo. The data collected by our engineers shows that the winner is often not the one who goes fastest, but the one who brakes best.”
Tyres for the 2025 Season
The Official tyre supplier in the premier class in MotoGP is Michelin until the end of 2026 at this stage. Michelin produce three slick tyre specifications at each Grand Prix, these consist of different compounds to accommodate the differing track conditions.
According to the current rules every MotoGP rider receives the following tyre allocation for each GP:
- 12 rear slick tyres and 10 front slick tyres
- Seven rear rain tyres and six front rain tyres
For the 2025 season the new tyre pressure rule implemented in 2024 will remain unchanged.
Due to the issues faced in the previous season where tyre pressure was concerned Michelin has been developing a new front tyre specification to combat these issues.
It was promised for the 2025 season but for several reasons this has been delayed until 2026 to allow for further testing before its official release.
We explain more about this subject in our article about MotoGP tyres.
Race weekend format
At each Grand Prix the typical MotoGP™ race weekend format for the premier class – the highest level of racing - goes something like this:
- Friday morning, 45-minute session: Free Practice 1
- Friday afternoon, 60-minute session timed for entry into Qualifying 2: Practice
- Saturday morning, 30-minute session: Free Practice 2
- Saturday morning, 15-minute session: Qualifying 1 (Q1)
- Saturday morning, 15-minute session: Qualifying 2 (Q2)
- Saturday afternoon: MotoGP™ Sprint
- Sunday morning: Warm-up
- Sunday afternoon: Race
And finally for those keen for a sneak peek at the changes coming in 2027…
Preparation for 2027 Regulation changes
The engine freeze and minimal rule changes as explained above makes way for teams to begin preparing for the regulation shake up to take place in 2027.
It allows for money to be spent on bike and engine development.
The regulation changes for 2027 will see a drop in capacity and see the removal of much of the highly contentious aerodynamics we have seen recently.
FIM have already handed down a list of regulations set to take force in 2027 these are as follows:
- No doubt the biggest change will be the reduction in MotoGP class engine displacement from 1000cc to 850cc.
- The weight of the bikes will also be reduced to 153kg, down from 157kg.
- All ride height devices will be banned including the holeshot device used at the start of the race.
- The number of engines available will reduce to six engines per season up to a 20-race calendar, or seven engines per if calendar is 21 or 22 rounds. Gearbox ratios or pairs of gears will also be reduced to 16.
- Fuel capacity will be reduced to 20 litres for the main race and 11 for sprints. 2027 will also see the start of the 100% non-fossil origin fuel to be used by all teams.
There will be some changes to aerodynamics made due to the reduction in power as follows:
We have an article which explains MotoGP aerodynamics if you would like more information.
Concession rankings will also differ slightly for the 2027 season. Those manufacturers racing in 2027 will start in ranking b, any new manufacturers will be in ranking D. Rankings will be reassessed halfway through the season and the regular ranking system will resume at the end of 2027.
The other change will also see a sharing of data with all GPS data from all riders to be made available to all teams at the end of each session.
What will you be looking out for in this coming season that promises so much?
