Honda leads Yamaha in Thailand GP, but real battle is yet to come

Honda outperforms Yamaha at the Thailand GP, but both teams face key challenges ahead.

Jack Miller dari Australia dari Prima Pramac Yamaha, Raúl Fernández dari Spanyol dari Trackhouse Racing, Marco Bezzecchi dari Italia dari Aprilia Racing, Joan Mir dari Spanyol dari Honda HRC Castrol, dan Johann Zarco dari Prancis dari LCR Honda melibas tikungan di Grand Prix MotoGP Thailand di Sirkuit Internasional Chang di Buriram, Thailand, pada 2 Maret 2025. Foto oleh Mohd Rasfan/AFP

By Anna Fadiah and Hayu Andini

Honda emerged victorious in the inter-Japanese battle at the Thailand Grand Prix, with Johann Zarco securing seventh place as the top Honda rider, four spots ahead of Yamaha’s best finisher, Jack Miller. However, this early success does not necessarily mean Honda has surpassed Yamaha in the 2025 MotoGP season. The true competitive picture will only become clear after multiple races on different tracks, as both manufacturers show signs of progress and lingering weaknesses.

Honda makes strong strides in early 2025 season

For Honda, the opening round of the 2025 season was a significant improvement over its struggles in 2024. Both Johann Zarco and Joan Mir made it into Q2, with Mir clocking a best time of 1m29.422s—nearly four-tenths faster than any Honda rider in last year’s Thai Grand Prix. The gap to pole position was also significantly reduced, from 1.1 seconds in 2024 to 0.640s this year.

Honda's pace improvement was evident in both the sprint and main races. Mir finished ninth in the sprint, just ahead of Zarco in tenth. However, the main race highlighted Honda’s gains, as Mir climbed to seventh before crashing out past the halfway point. Zarco carried on the charge, finishing seventh and earning nine points. His late-race pace was particularly impressive, closing to within three-tenths of Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi.

Zarco’s overall deficit to race winner Marc Marquez was just 15 seconds—a significant reduction from last season, when Honda’s lead riders often finished over 40 seconds behind. In 2024, Honda rarely finished within 20 seconds of the winner, making this result a clear sign of winter progress.

Marini’s recovery underlines Honda’s progress

Luca Marini’s under-the-radar performance further reinforced Honda’s step forward. The Italian dropped to the back of the field after a launch control failure but recovered to finish 12th aboard the factory RC213V. Marini estimates Honda has gained four-tenths of a second per lap since last year, a considerable step given the limited development time.

“I think if we compare our pace, it’s four-tenths faster compared to last year,” Marini said. “Maybe we were 1.2 seconds behind last year, and now we are around 0.8s. We still don’t know how much Marquez was holding back, but there’s a limit to how much faster you can go with these tyres.”

Mir, despite his crash, was equally optimistic about Honda’s gains.

“We would have been close to the top five with the pace we were showing,” Mir said. “This is something I wasn’t able to show at any race last year. It means we are on the right path.”

However, Honda’s long-standing engine power deficit remains a concern. Zarco noted that Honda appeared to struggle more in Thailand than in Malaysia, suggesting heat conditions may have amplified their disadvantage.

“In Malaysia, our engine felt better, but here, maybe the heat hurt us more than other brands,” Zarco explained. “Let’s see how we compare in normal conditions.”

Yamaha’s pace fades after promising start

Despite Honda’s stronger race performance, Yamaha showed flashes of speed, particularly in qualifying. Jack Miller put the Pramac-entered M1 in fourth place on the grid, just 0.308s off pole. He benefited from following Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia, but Fabio Quartararo also made it directly into Q2, qualifying 10th, further validating Yamaha’s one-lap pace.

Quartararo finished seventh in the sprint, giving Yamaha an early edge over Honda in points. However, the main race proved more challenging.

Miller held sixth until lap 16 but dropped down the order after a fairing clip came loose, forcing him to hold it in place while riding at 330km/h.

“Aero is crucial for turning the bike, and when the fairing popped up, I got nervous at high speeds,” Miller explained. “I was trying to hold it together as much as I could.”

Despite the issue, Miller still finished as the top Yamaha in 11th. Quartararo, meanwhile, struggled with grip and dropped to 19th in the first two laps. He eventually recovered to finish 15th, collecting a single point.

“In the beginning, I had an issue with grip,” Quartararo said. “I was struggling a lot and couldn’t lean the bike properly. It was sliding too much.”

Yamaha faces an uphill battle in upcoming rounds

Yamaha’s struggles in Buriram were not entirely unexpected. The track was never anticipated to suit the M1, and pre-season testing confirmed Yamaha still suffers in low-grip conditions. The upcoming races in Argentina and Austin—both known for grip issues—are unlikely to bring immediate improvements.

“We’re analyzing what happened in the first laps,” Quartararo told Canal+. “We knew the front tyre would be difficult, but we didn’t expect the rear to be this complicated. From the warm-up lap, we had a strategy to push from the start, but I couldn’t even turn for the first two or three laps.”

Pramac’s Miguel Oliveira finished 14th, while Alex Rins ran inside the points before dropping to 17th due to overheating issues.

Given these mixed results, Yamaha’s true performance remains difficult to gauge after just one race. The team may need to wait for more favorable circuits later in the season before fully realizing its off-season improvements.

Honda leads, but battle with Yamaha is far from over

While Honda came out on top in Thailand, the real battle with Yamaha will play out over the coming races. Honda’s progress is undeniable, but its engine power deficit remains a concern. Meanwhile, Yamaha must find solutions to its grip issues to remain competitive across different tracks.

With Argentina and Austin looming, both manufacturers still have plenty to prove in MotoGP 2025.