Augusto Fernandez's goals at the start of the season were quite different and instead the GasGas Tech3 rider had to settle for much less, especially when compared with what his teammate as well as rookie Pedro Acosta, sixth overall, did.
Twentieth overall with just 27 points, the Spaniard struggled to adapt to the carbon-fiber chassis with which he never felt comfortable, and the change of crew chief with the departure of Alex Merhand in favor of Alberto Giribuola did not help him either.
"This year was just a combination of a lot of things. Of course, maybe the bike was not done for my style, but I'm not this kind of rider, I tried to adapt myself, I can change my style.
This is my job, so I just work to be fast on whatever bike I have.
I try to adapt my style to every bike I'm riding but we didn't do it here, we didn't get to a competitive base at any point," was his reflection as reported by the Crashnet website.
Although never officially announced, Barcelona was his last GP before his switch to a Yamaha test rider, which he will begin to try during December in a private test.
He will also reportedly contest six rounds in 2025 riding the M1 as a wild card, all good opportunities to showcase himself for a potential return as a regular MotoGP starter.
"My career keeps going in a different way than expected, but I am 100 percent sure I'll be back.
I need to keep workin, keep working hard in all the testing, maintain the level of a MotoGP bike, that we know is different.
Being last is the same as just not being, so I'm taking this chapter as annother way of being where we want to be," he asserted reasonably, but equally frustrated with how the way the recently concluded year went.
"I'm angry because of this season, but life goes on and I'm looking forward to what's coming. We never see a test rider come back competitively, but I will do it," he proclaimed with conviction.
On Fernandez's hiring by the Japanese manufacturer, Fabio Quartararo had also spoken out some time ago.
"I pushed hard to have someone who had recently raced in MotoGP and was hungry, and clearly I pushed hard for Augusto," were his words.
