Marco Bezzecchi kicked off the 2025 season with Aprilia in an impressive way, securing eighth place in qualifying and managing to finish sixth during Sunday’s race. However, while he expected a decent start, he admitted that there is still room for improvement.

“At the end of the day, it’s not better or worse than I expected,” Bezzecchi told Crash.net. “I had hoped to do better in qualifying.”

Bezzecchi also pointed out that his time attack performance needs some work. Mostly due to his testing priorities, he didn’t have much time to focus on time attack runs, and now he is feeling the consequences.

“I still struggle a bit with time attacks,” he admitted. “During testing, we had other things to try, so I didn’t get to practice it much. Now, I can see that I need to improve in this area. My riding style is based on instinct, but the bike doesn’t always respond well to that in time attacks. That’s why I make small mistakes.”

A Tough Challenge

This is his first season on the RS-GP, and Bezzecchi faced another unexpected challenge—front tyre overheating. He revealed that after a decent start, he struggled to make progress because of rising temperatures in the front tyre.

Even after overtaking Jack Miller and managing to gain clear track, Bezzecchi had to spend four laps trying to cool the tyre down.

“I wanted to pass Jack and Raul Fernandez earlier, but I wasn’t fast enough to make a quick move,” he admitted.

Aprilia has had issues with heat management during flyaway races in past seasons, so this is not something new. However, Bezzecchi believes that the situation is improving compared to how it was before.

Better Than Expected?

Speaking about the bike’s overall heat levels, Bezzecchi had a surprisingly positive take.

“Honestly, really good,” he said. “Of course, it was hot—I’d be lying if I said otherwise. But compared to what Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales described in past years, it wasn’t as bad as I expected.”

Jokingly, he added, “Either I’m super fit, or the bike is much fresher. I think it’s the bike!”

As the season progresses, Bezzecchi will look to improve his performance, especially in qualifying. Can he overcome his time attack struggles and manage tyre temperatures more effectively? We’ll have to wait and see.