Pedro Acosta is undoubtedly one of the future stars of MotoGP. His debut in 2024 was magnificent, with solid performances and speed that was impressive at times.
He certainly made a lot of mistakes, but too often we forget that we are talking about his debut season in a category as complex as today's MotoGP and especially many of those mistakes were made by Acosta while fighting at the top of the standings and not at the bottom of the pack.
The Spaniard tied his fate in MotoGP to KTM and he did so without imagining in the slightest the difficulties that would face the Austrian manufacturer and that have not yet presented the final bill.
As much as the assurances continue to come from Austria that the RC16s will be on the grid in 2025, certainly the outlook is different from what Acosta and Valera, his manager, had in early 2023.
The bikes are likely to be on the track without heavy upgrades, with operations in Mattighofen relegated to the task of producing only the parts needed to complete the season and a heavily downsized racing program (Read HERE).
There are so many interests at stake, Dorna cannot afford to lose 4 bikes on the grid just as the transition with Liberty Media is being made, assuming the Antitrust gives the final go-ahead.
Red Bull will probably do its part, but not as heavily as anticipated in advance.
In short, it will race in economy mode, it's difficult to imagine any major developments for the bike and difficult therefore to think that the RC16 can keep up with Ducati but also with Aprilia, which with the arrival of champion Jorge Martìn and Marco Bezzecchi will undoubtedly make steps forward.
It will also have to be understood at what point Yamaha and Honda can be, but both are investing to improve and we must still remember that as much as things did not go well for either of them in 2024, the gaps from the best were almost never so big as to border on the ridiculous.
The point is that in modern-day MotoGP it only takes 2 tenths to be out of Q2 and therefore in clear trouble later in the race.
But recovering 2 tenths is not an impossible feat in times of regulation stability if you can do development, while they become a huge problem if you are stopped at the start.
This is what is likely to happen to the KTM RC16, which may have upgrades at the beginning of the season that were already put in the 'work schedule' at the end of 2024, such as the new chassis tested by Pedrosa and Espargarò in Jerez.
But there are unlikely to be, for example, any major steps forward on aerodynamics, the area in which the manufacturers today invest a great deal to find room for improvement.
In all this, how does Pedro Acosta fit in and how do his fellow riders fit in with KTM? Each one undoubtedly has different perspectives.
Maverick Vinales had come to KTM with hopes of becoming the first rider to win with 4 different brands in MotoGP after having succeeded with Suzuki, Yamaha and Aprilia.
Binder seemed ready to take on Acosta as a boxmate and perhaps hold his own by proving that he could still be the benchmark for the house.
Bastianini was hoping to find a fresh new start after a two-year stint at Ducati Factory that was not as rewarding as expected, irrespective of the injury that caused him to miss much of 2023.
Among the four, it is paradoxically Pedro Acosta who has the least to lose simply because he has a determining factor on his side, namely time.
Indeed, the Spaniard turned 20 in May and has a long MotoGP career ahead of him that has yet to be written. He would certainly like to win right away, to impose himself on the scene as the outright protagonist of the category.
He is loved by the public for his outgoing nature, is a less framed character than many of his colleagues, and seems like a real breath of fresh air for MotoGP.
But the Spaniard may not really be able to aspire to dominate as soon as he would have liked, and this will set him on a very different path than he had envisioned.
Pedro will have to improve, he will have to cultivate his skills with a lot of patience, and he will undoubtedly have to give up attacking to maximize every opportunity. In fact, he will have to somehow start riding as a certain Fabio Quartararo has been doing since 2022.
A rider who certainly deserves to be permanently in the top five and instead has decided to marry the Yamaha cause by putting in the maximum effort even if only to get into Q2 when he has the opportunity, waiting for better times for the M1.
Acosta's 2025 season might become something similar, which is to say a difficult season, but also a great opportunity for mental growth.
Should he be able to hold his nerve in such a complex situation as the one that lies ahead, he would undoubtedly come out stronger and ready to play the role of a frontrunner in the future that has been tailored around him but which he has certainly also made to measure for himself with his speed.
