The presumptive winner crashing out, two works Aprilia riders being fired off in clumsy moves and Yamaha returning to the podium after a really rough run - the Barcelona MotoGP sprint was a lot more eventful than most of its counterparts at other tracks in 2025.
To tackle the main topics from the race, here is our selection of winners and losers.
Winner - Marc Marquez (1st)
Marc Marquez had already accepted the end of his 14-race winning streak, but he just can't lose right now - as evidenced by him saving a significant Turn 7 moment the lap after his brother Alex crashed from the lead.
He expects to lose on Sunday, but if the winning streak somehow withstands Sunday, too, it could easily stretch to 20 races and beyond.
Loser - Alex Marquez (DNF)
Alex Marquez said he was caught out by feeling "too relaxed", "too confident" and "unbeatable" as he streaked away from his brother - who admitted afterwards he had given up on any hope of chasing down the Gresini bike.
Though crashing out doesn't change the fact he's been the fastest rider this weekend, and Pecco Bagnaia's appalling form means second place in the standings is under no imminent threat, Marquez really needed a good result given messy recent weekends - and just could not bring it home, again.
"Completely my mistake, I felt quite stupid on the gravel," he acknowledged. The pressure to deliver on Sunday is now heightened further, with Alex still the favourite and expecting the medium rear tyre to play into his hands (but also Marc's hands).
Winner - Fabio Quartararo (2nd)
A monstrous Saturday by an all-time great trapped in a situation not worthy of his talents - but being rewarded handsomely for it in financial terms, so let's not be too sad.
Fabio Quartararo clearly rode with total abandon through qualifying and particularly the sprint, and it seems to be his default mode in 2025, but while it can backfire today it lifted him to heights that shouldn't be available to the M1.
His best explanation for why it was suddenly a podium-calibre bike is the build-up of grip from Friday to Saturday at what is famously MotoGP's lowest-grip venue - but my best explanation for why the Yamaha was podium-calibre is it had Fabio Quartararo on it.
Loser - Fermin Aldeguer (DNF)
Both Aprilias taken out in consecutive laps 🤯💥
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 6, 2025
Sprint's over for @Aldeguer54 & Bezzecchi #CatalanGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/yzLwINNj5e
Fermin Aldeguer's elimination of Marco Bezzecchi has added to what has been quite a mistake-prone season, of which the worst has been his early tangle with Miguel Oliveira.
The Oliveira crash caused a significant injury and you could argue it has been a major building block in the impending end of Oliveira's MotoGP career. Bezzecchi has been more fortunate here, but still sustained left forearm and left hip contusions, as per Aprilia.
Aldeguer has been fast-but-wild in typical rookie fashion, but it also feels like his particular performance pattern invites this kind of situation - he understandably isn't on his best level on Friday, then struggles a little over one lap, then has the race pace to scythe through the pack and feels heightened urgency to do so, so often crashes (and sometimes takes someone else with him).
But that explanation is not necessarily an excuse, and it really is time for him to settle down a notch.
Winner - Fabio Di Giannantonio (3rd)
Fabio Di Giannantonio feels he's unlocked the best strategy for his current Ducati GP25 situation (which he was keen to stress was no dig or advice to another GP25 struggler) - just try to accept the weak points and maximise the strengths.
His day was 0.004s away from being very different with a Q1 elimination, but once in Q2 he was always going to get a decent go of it, and the resulting podium - while crash-aided - is no big surprise.
But it should take some of the heat off in what has been such an uneven season.
Loser - Joan Mir (13th)
Joan Mir caught the eye by topping the pre-qualifying practice on Saturday morning, but his problem in 2025 has never been a lack of eye-catching pace - it's that weekends just haven't come together.
With his side of the garage focusing on making the new Honda chassis work for him, the 2020 champion qualified too far down, didn't get a good start, then struggled in the pack - potentially, he thinks, with front pressure or temperature - so was left empty-handed while fellow Honda riders picked up points.
Winner - Ai Ogura (9th)
It's a very tentative winners' slot for Ai Ogura, who admits he wasn't "aggressive" enough in the early laps so lost major ground - and only scored points thanks to attrition.
But it's been a while that he's looked like scoring sprint points or running consistently top-10, so overall feels like an important milestone - especially on a weekend where the Aprilia clearly isn't all that impressive.
Loser - Franco Morbidelli (DNF)
An unfortunate wipeout 😱💥
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) September 6, 2025
Franky & @88jorgemartin OUT ❌#CatalanGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/zJexNrJD1k
“I'm sorry about that, it was a mistake from my part. I'll learn from it. And I will try to be more precise if it happens the next time.”
Franco Morbidelli gets some praise for holding up his hand over his taking Jorge Martin out of the race, but the promise to "learn from it" feels a little hollow when earlier in the season he already eliminated Maverick Vinales from a race in very similar circumstances, via an optimistic divebomb into a left-hander.
He would argue that in the Vinales case he stayed on the bike and they touched, whereas here he lost the front and the Martin collision happened already after that, but in both cases the manoeuvre invited bad things to happen and happen they did.
He is fortunate to have got away with a single long-lap penalty.
Loser - Pecco Bagnaia (14th)
Pecco Bagnaia gets a lot of grief for how he speaks about his 2025 situation - also from this publication - and it's not really warranted, because there is no good way to publicly address this kind of form, especially when you're talking four times a weekend.
He has approached it at Barcelona with the requisite humility, aware that Marc Marquez is showing where the GP25 can be and that where Bagnaia himself is is not acceptable even if the bike is a mismatch for him. Every weekend is a lifetime here, and he's fighting and suffering.
OK. With that said - this weekend he has been the slowest Ducati in every relevant session, a second off the pace at best.
"You can see from the bike that he doesn’t have any confidence," said former title rival Martin. "He was in front of me during the race, for some corners, but then I could see it’s not the same Pecco as always. He used to brake super hard, super difficult to overtake, now it’s a different story."
He's just clearly doing something wrong. It's harsh but it's the only honest thing to suggest.
