If you want to know what the 2027 MotoGP season might look like, look no further than Sunday’s MotoGP race in Mandalika. In part because the average age of the podium was just 23 years of age (and that was inflated by the old man of the podium, Alex Márquez, who is 29). But especially because the Indonesian Grand Prix was an absolute riot, a cavalcade of unexpected names in the podium places, and an outcome we were absolutely not expecting.
That’s not to downplay what Fermin Aldeguer has achieved by becoming the second youngest rider to win a MotoGP place in history, behind Marc Márquez and ahead of Freddie Spencer, venerable company indeed. But Aldeguer’s win came in part because he handled unpredictable and very different conditions better than anyone else – well, bar anyone else except Marco Bezzecchi, but Bezzecchi blotted his copybook by crashing out on the first lap, taking newly crowned 2025 MotoGP champion Marc Márquez with him. MotoGP at Mandalika was many things. But above all, it was just downright weird.
