The MotoGP field ran virtually the full range of conditions on Friday at the Circuit of the Americas - except for, really, the optimal track conditions.
Despite this, many riders felt they had a better idea of where they stack up after the wet-and-dry running, not just at COTA but through the start of 2025 as a whole.
Here's what we learned in the first act of the Grand Prix of the Americas.
Honda's progress really does look legit
Johann Zarco's brilliant Termas de Rio Hondo performance was tentative evidence that Honda really is regaining ground on its rivals. But that evidence had the caveat Zarco being a bit of a specialist at the Argentinian circuit.
One bike in the top 10 at the end of Friday, and only in ninth too, was pretty muted from Honda's first Austin day in comparison.
But it was the tone of that ninth-fastest rider Joan Mir's assessment that really seemed to bode well, especially given Mir has often been the most visibly frustrated of the Honda contingent.
"Today is a good day for us. These conditions are very, very challenging, conditions that you cannot miss anything because you have to be always fast in every condition," he said when asked by The Race if his encouraging times suggested Honda had fixed its problems - after he'd suggested the day before that a good performance at COTA would be the final bit of evidence needed to prove Honda's made a real step.
"And we've been always fast," he added of Friday.
"We've been always competitive in every condition that we make. We started with the wet tyres in the beginning, with the asphalt more wet, then more dry with the wet tyres, then with the slick tyres more wet and then dry... and we've been quite strong in every condition. That's it.
"So I'm happy. This means that the confidence that I have actually with the bike is a good one. Because if not, you don't go fast in these conditions."
While Honda has an engine upgrade, Mir said the gains was more because "everything works more together" than any individual area of the bike taking a step.
His works team-mate Luca Marini felt that engine still needs optimising, but reckons Honda now has the best electronics on the grid - replying with multiple 'yeahs' when asked if it was even better on that front than his previous employer Ducati.
Termas hero Zarco crashed while on course to go straight into Q2 but was as bullish as Mir - saying he expects to progress out of Q1 and that he might even be glad of the extra running as sprint preparation.
First big 2025 shunt doesn't slow Marquez at all
If the sight of dominant championship leader and overwhelming pre-weekend victory favourite Marc Marquez crashing heavily just 10 minutes into the wet first practice session gave his rivals hope, that hope wouldn't have lasted very long.
THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY! 😱 @marcmarquez93 highsides at T2 after setting a new fastest lap! #AmericasGP 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/sKomaKCNVH
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) March 28, 2025
Not only was Marquez soon back out on that bike and into the top three, he then went seven tenths of a second clear of the field in the drying second session.
Marquez made a point of waiting for his crashed bike to return to the pit box rather than switching to the spare - partly because he thought the marshals might be gentler with his primary bike if they knew he wanted to get back out on it, but also to stick with the same rear wet tyre rather than having to dip into his allocation for another.
Though the crash was a violent one, Marquez found it easy to shrug off as it held no mysteries for him.
When it was put to him by The Race that he'd ended up making a tricky day look pretty easy, Marquez replied: "It was not a perfect day because we didn’t start in the best way. I did a mistake and it was not time to do that kind of mistake - FP1 on the first lap.
"But it can happen. Extra confidence, I was flowing on the track and I was riding like there was no water. And there was a lot of water on that part and I had aquaplaning.
"But I understood immediately. And I didn’t slow down, because I was not riding over my limit. But I just took care about some points of the circuit. And especially this afternoon I felt good with the slick tyres.
"It’s not the real result because tomorrow everything will be more tight. But it’s good to start in that confidence."
Intriguingly it's not just the other Ducatis that Marquez is watching out for in that tighter fight he expects on Saturday. He also reckons Pedro Acosta and Maverick Vinales' top 10 afternoon pace is real and that Austin will suit the KTM.
Bagnaia's surge of optimism
Pecco Bagnaia got himself into Q2 - which is the only thing that truly counts on a Friday - but the classification did not make for particularly impressive reading on his part. The other Ducatis were all neatly in the top five, while he just barely held on to a top-10 spot - and he wasn't exactly running off-sequence.
But Bagnaia put this underperformance down to a lack of comfort with the soft front tyre (and indicated he would've done much better with the harder option). And though truly representative running was limited on Friday, or maybe even non-existent, Bagnaia felt he'd tapped into some of his 2024-level comfort previously inaccessible this season.
"The feeling on braking, the feeling on entrance of the corners was better, and was something that we were searching for," he insisted.
Bagnaia insisted that he was misinterpreted back in Argentina - "I think because my English is not that good" - and that what was taken as a suggestion that he'd seek to go back to full 2024-spec of bike was actually just about trying to find that same feeling with the newer parts (which might not include the 2025 engine, chassis or aero but clearly aren't just cosmetic either).
"It's clear that the new bike has a better potential," he said. "Marc is showing it. So I don't need to be back, I just want to have the same feeling as last year's bike.
"But I have to say that in this track I feel much better, so I'm already happy."
Rainmaster Miller is back
Rainmaster Jack Miller was a bit AWOL during the Australian's KTM stint, as he never quite clicked with the RC16 in the sketchiest of the conditions.
Whether it's situational or fundamental or a bit of both, his performance on the Friday with the Yamaha suggested a major step change already.
Miller's canary-in-the-coalmine pace on the slicks once the track had dried just enough was vintage Jack, and Yamaha stablemate Fabio Quartararo could only applaud his effort at the end of the day.
Quartararo admitted he himself still needs to improve in these kinds of conditions, but lauded Miller as really impressive, commending his "aggressive but smooth" riding.
"First time I’ve ever heard myself referred to as ‘smooth’ but I’ll take it," Miller joked.
But he didn't shy away from it having been a really good day - and key to that was that he's found the Yamaha much a good fit for for the conditions.
"I was able to keep it on the dry line and understand where the wheels were - which is a big bonus. Because some bikes you ride, they're really tough to ride in those conditions, when you can't keep on the dry line.
"And it [the M1] was really reactive. You have to sit on it a but differently, but I understood that pretty much straight up."
Resurfacing gets a thumbs up
The Circuit of the Americas was resurfaced last year between the MotoGP round and the Formula 1 round, after both series' competitors - but particularly those on the MotoGP side - had found its bumpy nature increasingly irritating.
And while the condition of the track here will always be a moving target where MotoGP bikes are concerned - due to the particular 'moving' nature of the soil and the presence of various car racing series in addition to F1, as well as the usual surface wear and tear - it's so far, so good in 2025.
Riders were fairly unanimous in their praise, with only some minor quibbles - if they could be called that.
Marini said the newness of the surface could make for a really sketchy race if it rains, and Franco Morbidelli had the bumps at the end of the long straight deploy his airbag under braking, which nearly cost him an end-of-day Q2 spot.
But both made it clear, as did all the others who were asked, that the resurfacing has made the bumps a lot more tolerable.
Aprilia's unusual engine issues
Normally, we’re used to hearing Aprilia riders complaining about the bike being too hot, thanks to their chronic overheating issues in the more tropical races of the year, but oddly it was the other way around at COTA - with a low temperature warning causing both Marco Bezzecchi and Ai Ogura to miss valuable track time on Friday morning.
With unexpectedly low air and track temperature thanks to the rainfall to kick off the day, Bezzecchi ended up cruising home not once but twice after his bike entered a failsafe limp mode before his engineers recognised the cause of the issue and were able to address it.
A more common problem in the past, the issue was traditionally fixed by adding duct tape to a bike’s radiator in order to reduce the amount of cooling airflow reaching it.
Once the problems were resolved, though, it was perhaps a better day than the results indicate for both Bezzecchi and Trackhouse satellite racer Raul Fernandez, both of whom seem to believe that they’ve got the potential to move through to Q2 tomorrow now that they’ve used the opening day to resolve some issues.
Bezzecchi’s main problem was simply a lack of time, with a crash after his two slow returns to the pits compromising most of his morning, but Fernandez was left delighted with his day’s progress, believing that the Trackhouse team has finally established a strong base setting that has so far been absent thanks to him missing most of pre-season testing.
Aldeguer's best day yet in MotoGP
Ducati rookie Fermin Aldeguer acknowledged that the opening day at COTA has been his best day yet on a MotoGP machine, after he ended up fast in wet, dry and damp conditions despite coming into the weekend somewhat daunted by the prospect of taking on the series’ most physically demanding circuit.
Ending up fifth overall in the final standings and securing himself a direct path to Q2 on Saturday, it’s the first real sign we’ve seen so far of the potential he displayed during his Moto2 career that convinced Ducati boss Gigi Dall’Igna to stick him on a four-year (two-plus-two) factory deal.
Perhaps more importantly, though, he says that he thinks he’s finally understood something important about how to set a fast lap on a MotoGP machine that should bode well for the rest of his debut season.
“Today I felt incredible with the bike,” he enthused. “I just didn’t think a lot on the bike. Only flowing. The track wasn’t in the perfect condition, so you have to use the balls and do your best. We did good work, and I think we’re starting to have a good reference to work with.
“I think this is the key for a rider. For sure you have to think, because it’s a new bike and you have to do and say good feedback - but sometimes you have to block the mind and do your best.”
