Miguel and the bitter return to a place where he was once happy
A return to a place where he was once happy. Miguel Oliveira is currently back on a stage that will forever be linked to his MotoGP history. It was at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg that, in 2020, the Portuguese rider achieved his first victory in the top motorcycle category, then with Tech3. Since then, four more victories have followed in five years, but 2025 is far from being the Pramac athlete's best year, having only scored points in two races and arrived in Austria with a best performance of 13th place. Interestingly, the downward trend is also evident if we consider only the races held at the Red Bull Ring, as, after his 2020 victory, Oliveira retired, followed by 12th-place finishes in 2022 and 2024, with another retirement in between. Previously, in 2019, the Portuguese rider finished eighth, recording his best performance of the year, and in 2018 he made the podium in Moto2.
"It was a tough day for all of us on the Yamahas. Coming here, I knew it would be a difficult track for us. We have to accelerate in very slow corners, but we lack traction and power for that. Our front end is very good, but we only stopped with it. It's not easy, but we tried our best. My crash was very strange; I was really surprised. I saw the orange panel with yellow stripes on the inside of Turn 5 and was already heading to the pits, so I slowed down even more. I saw debris from Fábio [Quartararo's] bike, I was on the inside, and suddenly, I crashed. It was a shame, because that bike had a different gearbox and shock absorber, which were helping me a lot to maintain a good pace, but I had to switch to the other bike. And immediately, during the time trial, I had a problem with gear changes: when I slowed down, the lever got stuck between fourth and third gear... it just wouldn't cooperate," analyzed the Portuguese rider on Friday, having crashed in the second session and missed out on reaching Q2. Jack Miller (Pramac) ended up being fined for causing the two crashes.
Thus, Miguel Oliveira had to go through Q1 this Saturday morning, after finishing 15th, 955 thousandths behind Marc Márquez (Ducati), in the third free practice session. Despite setting the fastest time of the weekend and approaching second place in 28 minutes, the Portuguese driver finished only eighth in Q1, with a time of 1:29.024 minutes, starting from 18th and third-to-last, in the last position on the sixth row. Q2 was marked by Márquez's crash, sliding at the chicane and losing pole position to Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia).
Make sure you are all ready for a spectacular #TissotSprint coming up later ???? #AustrianGP ????????? pic.twitter.com/tkwJHnYz3Q
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) August 16, 2025
At the start of the Sprint, Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) got off to a poor start and dropped out of the points, with Álex Márquez (Gresini) taking the lead, ahead of his brother and Bezzecchi, who also had a poor start. On the second lap, it was Pedro Acosta's (KTM) turn to overtake the Italian, taking the podium, while Oliveira remained in 18th place, having overtaken and lost the position to Joan Mir (Honda). With the brothers increasingly close at the front, despite the slight threat from the Spaniard's KTM, Bagnaia retired from the race with problems with his Ducati. As for the Portuguese rider, he ended up falling to 19th and last place, overtaken by Alex Rins (Yamaha). However, on the seventh lap, Miguel stole 18th place from Raúl Fernández (Trackhouse), at the same time that Marc attacked Álex and took the lead.
With this overtake, Márquez pulled away from his brother, who in turn gained a comfortable lead over Acosta, who also had a podium finish virtually assured. Morbidelli (VR46) also struggled, missing a braking point and dropping several positions. The race remained unchanged in the final laps, and Márquez took his 12th victory of the season on Saturday, having only missed out on first place in Great Britain. Álex Márquez and Pedro Acosta secured second and third place, with Miguel Oliveira finishing 18th, behind the Yamahas of Jack Miller and Alex Rins.
That makes SIX #TissotSprint WINS IN A ROW ????
ON. A. ROLL. @marcmarquez93 ???? #AustrianGP ????????? pic.twitter.com/vOdMwW3VGn
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) August 16, 2025
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