The first half of a weird MotoGP season concluded at the Sachsenring with what felt like a return to normality. Ducati superiority and a crushing display by Marc Marquez had more than a whiff of 2025 about it – nostalgic, perhaps, but food for thought going into the summer break.
Behind Marquez, however, there were still twists and surprises. There were big falls and messy fallings-out. Hand-wringing here and small victories there. At the end of it all, though, the championship fight remains a logjam.
Here are the winners and losers from the MotoGP German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring.
Winner: Marc Marquez
Everyone predicted a full haul of 37 points for Marc at the Sachsenring – and the Spaniard did not let them down. After winning the sprint on Saturday, he duly delivered a remarkable 10th MotoGP victory at the German circuit with a dominant performance from pole position.
Despite Marquez trying to stir the pot by claiming the sprint wasn't as easy as it looked, this weekend went entirely to plan – apart from getting caught out by the new Turn 3 bump on Friday morning. It was the first event this year that had echoes of the Spaniard's 2025 summer streak. That's pretty frightening for those hoping to fend him off in the championship.
Said rivals will have to hope it was just the Sachsenring effect. While COTA's reputation as a Marquez stomping ground may have taken a knock in recent years, Marc's love affair with the German track is very much intact. The only comparable one in premier class history was that between Giacomo Agostini and Imatra, the former Finnish Grand Prix venue.
Loser: The Aprilia factory team
The biggest setback of the weekend for the factory squad was obviously Marco Bezzecchi falling down and hurting himself in qualifying. He was sent straight to Italy for surgery, guaranteeing him a repeat of his zero-points weekend at Brno last month. The net result of another disaster for the early-season championship leader was falling from second to fourth in the standings. When he'll be back and how fit he will be is by no means certain.
It's not like things on the other side of the box can cheer up boss Massimo Rivola either. Jorge Martin may have extended his lead in the championship, but that seems an anomaly given his fundamental lack of pace in recent rounds. The Spaniard doesn't seem to have a solution other than trying to wind back the clock and find what worked so well at Le Mans - and clearly that's easier said than done.
For a third straight race weekend, the works team was shown up by its supposed satellite, Trackhouse Racing. All things considered, hopes of getting things back on the rails following the Balaton Park low have proven optimistic for the factory. Ditto the idea of going into the summer break without cause to panic.
Winner: Raul Fernandez
The 25-year-old quietly went about his business early in the weekend, finishing each of the first three sessions in the top two. That flew in the face of what looked like a performance edge for Ducati.
But it was on Saturday morning that Fernandez tweaked something in his body, an affliction variously described as a "compression" or a "jolt". Whatever the medical term, he was in real discomfort for the rest of the weekend. After netting fifth in the sprint and third in the grand prix, he was full of praise for the physios that helped him race.
Could it be that Fernandez thrives on a little adversity sometimes? Don't forget that two races ago at Brno, he lived inside the top 10 despite appendicitis earlier in the week. And back in May at Mugello, he won the sprint race even though he was deeply miserable about his contractual situation at the time.
But feeling loved seems equally effective fuel for this complex character, whether that's a good physio healing him or the fact that a 2027 Trackhouse deal seems little more than a formality now...
Loser: Fabio Di Giannantonio
The VR46 Ducati man came into this weekend as that sneakily consistent rider who never made a mistake. A guy who was knocking on the door of the championship lead as a result. Given his 2025 form here, he was also touted by some as the only individual who might challenge Marquez in his Saxon fiefdom.
As practice unfolded and it became clear that a Ducati was the bike to have at the Sachsenring, the Italian's chances of at least a second place seemed good given that the pesky Aprilias were on the back foot. He got the job done well enough in qualifying, too, lining up alongside the Marquez brothers. The new grid layout played into the hands of this frequently poor starter, and he was able to hold station for a solid third in the sprint.
On Sunday, however, things unravelled. Hindsight is easy, of course, but did he need to start trying new aero packages and experimenting with different corner lines in the 10-minute warm-up session? Whatever, Di Giannantonio suffered a major tumble. He was basically unhurt, but wasn't this the sort of thing that tends to knock him off his stride?
Whether the morning spill affected his race can never be certain, but the facts are that he dropped to fifth after the start and completed just three laps before crashing again. On a day when the points leader didn't edge forward by much, it really wasn't the time to be shaking gravel out of one's leathers.
Winner: Yamaha
The bikes from Iwata aren't going to make it onto this side of the ledger very often this year, so let's give them their moment in the sun. The Sachsenring, which has no straights to speak of, is set up to mask the package's biggest weakness: a major lack of power. And so, there were a couple of modest highlights to celebrate – as long as we accept that everything is relative!
Pramac rider Jack Miller scaled lofty heights on Friday when he cruised into Q2 with the fifth-fastest time. He could only convert that to 11th when it came to qualifying, but works rider Fabio Quartararo was there to take up the slack, sticking it onto the second row of the grid.
Miller went backwards in both races. So did Quartararo, but the Frenchman's seventh place in the grand prix was about as good a result as Yamaha can hope for at the moment. The bad news? The next race is at speedy old Silverstone. The marque will need last year's tyre and temperature weirdness to repeat if it is to compete in Britain once again.
Loser: Maverick Vinales
One of the sadder subplots to the German GP was watching Top Gun's divorce from KTM play out in such public fashion. If any doors were still open to Vinales in the Sachsenring paddock, they slammed firmly shut over the weekend as he seemed determined to go down in flames.
The snarky comments that had begun at Assen continued in similar vein here, with Vinales claiming (among other things) that he had been emailed a 2027 contract by KTM only to have it withdrawn. KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer responded at length on the MotoGP world feed, suggesting Vinales was still in the reckoning but that decisions would have to be reached this very weekend.
If that really was the case, a lamentable, back-of-field performance and an 'I don't need to talk to anyone' response when asked if he was still open to getting around a table put a definitive end to any hopes of a reconciliation.
