Jack Miller started his home weekend in perfect style, leading Free Practice 1 at Phillip Island with a best time of 1m28.281s, narrowly ahead of Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta.
The session began under clear but cold skies, with the Phillip-Island-typical strong coastal winds breezing in from the ocean. Riders took time to bring tyres up to temperature after morning rain left the circuit green.
Once the pitlane opened, Pedro Acosta quickly took control of the timesheets ahead of Johann Zarco and Marco Bezzecchi – the Italian practicing the extra loop outside of turn four after being handed a double long-lap penalty for Sunday’s race.
Trading fastest laps with Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta shortly after, Bezzecchi jumped to top spot before Brad Binder briefly took P1 at the halfway mark.
The first crash of the weekend came from Franco Morbidelli, who lost the front through Turn 2. He was unhurt and returned to the pits by scooter.
An early tumble for Franky at Turn 1 💥#AustralianGP 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/ngx24eKL1f
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 16, 2025
Following the early scare, the first session of the weekend went on relatively uneventfully before a Honda engine blow-up covered the main straight in a thick plume of smoke, bringing out first the yellow, then the ‘lack of adhesion’ flag.
A smokey end to FP1 for @JoanMirOfficial 😱💨#AustralianGP 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/7Xf9q2ingi
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) October 17, 2025
In the closing minutes, Johann Zarco and Marco Bezzecchi fitted fresh soft fronts for a late push, but it was Jack Miller who gave the home crowd a bit of a show.
On new rubber, the Australian fired in a 1m28.281s to top the session by 0.036s from Alex Marquez, whose earlier 1m28.317s had held firm for second until the chequered flag.
Pedro Acosta completed the top three, 0.135s adrift, with Fermin Aldeguer continuing his strong adaptation to MotoGP in fourth. Fabio Quartararo rounded out the top five for Yamaha.
Further back, Bagnaia salvaged seventh after a frustrating start to the session, while Zarco placed eighth as the top Honda. Di Giannantonio and Binder closed the top ten.
