Raul Fernandez (2nd) gritted his teeth: two fingers are broken!

On Saturday, Raul Fernandez secured his first MotoGP pole position. Just a few hours later, he was caught up in a chain-reaction crash at the first corner that ended badly: he broke the finger he normally uses to brake and was angry with his Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi. This raised the question: would the 25-year-old even be able to complete the 27-lap Grand Prix in this condition?

A long spell in the lead didn’t save Fernandez from Bezzecchi

Before the start, Fernandez needed help putting on his gloves. On the track, however, there was no sign of this: the Spaniard got off to a clean start, fended off an attack from Bezzecchi in the first corner and built up a lead of around one second. Every time Bezzecchi set a faster lap, Fernandez responded immediately.

It wasn’t until nine laps from the end that the Italian overtook him at Turn 1 and pulled away from the Spaniard with the fastest lap of the race. Fernandez held on to second place at the finish, whilst Aprilia secured the top four places for the first time ever: “Normally I don’t make many mistakes when I’m leading. Today I made too many; I went wide in too many corners and immediately ruined my rear tyre,” Fernandez admitted. “I was just trying to survive, but for the last five laps I was completely knackered.”

By the morning, it was clear: he’d broken two fingers!

After crossing the finish line, Fernandez slumped onto the fuel tank and, in pain, pulled off his glove. Only then did it become clear just how badly he’d actually been injured. “When I woke up this morning, I saw that I had not one, but two broken fingers. Nobody knew. I didn’t say anything so as to keep my focus on the race,” Fernandez revealed in the Parc Ferme.

“I started from scratch: the whole set-up, the braking points, how I had to use the front brake. It was hard work.” On the cool-down lap after the race, Jorge Martin symbolically tipped his hat to his team-mate.

Topic of the week

A stuttering start to the Bahrain Grand Prix: the FIA narrowly avoids a fiasco like the one in Indianapolis in 2005

Fans could hardly believe their eyes at what they witnessed at the Bahrain Grand Prix: cars crawling along, racing cars that simply came to a standstill. The FIA narrowly avoided a fiasco like the one at Indy in 2005.

Read More

TV Program

Live

Phillip Island: International Stream

MotoGP World Championship

22.10.2026 - 23:55

With the 20 points for second place, Fernandez consolidates his seventh position in the World Championship standings. With 236 points, he is just 23 points behind his team-mate Ai Ogura, who is fourth in the World Championship with 259 points. He has fond memories of the next circuit: he won his first MotoGP race at Phillip Island a year ago.