News MotoGP Silverstone 2025: a crazy, crazy grand prix!!!!

The motorcycle Grand Prix round made a stop in England this weekend at the Silverstone circuit. This fabulous venue didn't disappoint with the scenes that unfolded all weekend for this 2025 edition!

Qualifying: 3rd pole position in a row for Fabio Quartararo

At ease from the start of the weekend (2nd on Friday evening), the French Yamaha rider took his 3rd pole position of the season on Saturday. To be able to repeat this feat on 3 different circuits says a lot about the Yamaha's level, which is improving week by week.

And once again, Fabio Quartararo not only set the fastest qualifying lap, but also the absolute track record, with a time of 1'57.233. Alex Marquez, who dominated on Friday, had to settle for second place. Francesco Bagnaia completes the front row, dropping his infernal teammate Marc Marquez to the second row. A position not seen for a long time for the world championship leader.

For our second Frenchman, the session didn't go as he'd hoped. On the pace for the first few laps, when the pace picked up at the end of the session, Johann Zarco crashed his Honda and had to make do with 9th place on the starting grid.

Saturday's Sprint, the calm before the storm

The first race of the weekend gave birth to a bit of a mouse. The superiority of the Ducatis was once again overwhelming. While Fabio Quartararo made the most of his pole position and got off to a good start, the Marquez brothers quickly got into their stride. For a while, Marc took the lead over Alex. The elder Marquez, as usual, likes to put a lot of pressure on at the start of races, but Alex enjoys Silverstone and doesn't let himself be dominated easily.

It's more complicated for Fabio Quartararo, who soon runs into difficulties and starts to fall down the rankings. Alex Márquez, on the other hand, put pressure on his brother and took advantage of a mistake by the official Ducati rider to take the lead in the Sprint. Once again, Francesco Bagnaia had to be content with watching the Marquez show from 3rd place, unable to keep pace with the Spaniards.

For his part, Johann Zarco made good progress, climbing up the positions one by one during the Sprint to the point of finding himself in a duel with Fabio Quartararo for 5th place at the end of the race. But the Honda rider's advantage was to prove decisive. At the front, Fabio Di Giannantonio pushed Pecco Bagnaia a little harder to take 3rd place and eject the Ducati official from the podium. Alex Márquez was even able to accelerate towards the end of the race to hold off his brother, who had to bow out of the Sprint race for the first time this season (after 6 wins).

Marco Bezzecchi on his Aprilia shook up the end of the race for the places of honour. Almost out of nowhere, Bezzecchi made a fantastic comeback to claim 4th place. Pecco Bagnaia was the main victim, as the Aprilia rider gave Johann Zarco some ideas. The LCR Honda rider also stepped up the pace on the final lap to claim the scalp of Francesco Bagnaia, who dropped to sixth place. Fabio Quartararo, Pedro Acosta, Jack Miller and Luca Marini completed the Top 10.

On Sunday, Fabio Quartararo wins a crazy Grand Prix!

My children, you didn't even have to blink on Sunday to make sure you didn't miss anything in the opening laps of the GP: two starts, crashes for the Marquezes, a red flag.

After an initial warm-up lap, the players got into position for the first start. Conditions were difficult in England, with relatively low temperatures and lots of wind in some corners. Some drivers chose to start with a Soft front tire, others with a Medium. We'll see later how strategic this choice was for the result.

As the lights went out, Alex Marquez popped up to take the lead into the first corner. Over-aggressive on his front tire (with the cold temperatures and wind), the Gresini rider went straight to the ground, leaving the pack spinning. His brother Marc was also on the pace, starting from the second row and taking the lead ahead of Fabio Quartararo.

Marc Marquez didn't last much longer on his wheels than his brother, crashing out on the second lap at high speed. However, a race event was to upset this seemingly improbable scenario. Further back in the pack, Aleix Espargaró (Honda) crashed, taking Franco Morbidelli (Ducati VR46 Racing Team) with him. Morbidelli's bike came to a standstill on the track, leaking oil.

The race had to be stopped and the stewards waved the red flag. A point of order saved the Marquez brothers.

When 3 laps have not been covered and the red flag is out, all drivers are allowed to restart. The Marquez brothers had got off to a poor start.

The second start was given for 19 laps. Having made a poor start to the weekend, Francesco Bagnaia was aggressive and passed Fabio Quartararo. For their part, the Marquez brothers were much more cautious than at the first start, 5th and 6th. The Frenchmen were both on the pace, and Fabio Quartaro quickly regained first place in the Grand Prix and took the lead! The Yamaha rider was soon 4 seconds ahead of everyone else, putting in a string of good laps thanks to the advantage of his soft front tire.

All the other riders who had opted for soft tires were also quick to exploit this advantage. Jack Miller and Johann Zarco put the pressure on the chasing pack, especially the Marquez brothers (who were on medium fronts). Miller even went so far as to take second place in the grand prix, when Marc Marquez missed his first brake and dropped back to fourth place. Johann Zarco continued to push to get ahead of the Spanish rider. A little later, Marquez missed again under braking, causing his team-mate Pecco Bagnaia, who had him in his sights, to make the same mistake. The two Ducati officials ended up in around 10th place. On the fourth lap, Pecco Bagnaia went down alone, forcing him to retire.
Stabilization on lap 6 before the Quartararo disaster.

Calm after the storm! The madness of the opening laps suddenly gave way to a brighter situation. Drivers who had opted for soft fronts began to calmly dominate the race. The situation is crystal clear. Fabio Quartararo took off ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and Johann Zarco, with Franco Morbidelli and Jack Miller completing the Top5.
From this point on, you'd think things were starting to look up for Fabio Quartararo, who seems to be treading water. However, the Yamaha rider was to suffer a terrible disappointment thanks to his bike's electronics. The device used to lower the rear of the bike under acceleration jammed, forcing Fabio to retire on lap 12. Incredible scene! The rider collapsed under his helmet, tears of disappointment streaming down his cheeks as his first victory (since 2022) approached. The whole paddock came out to greet him, aware that the Grand Prix had just lost its winner.

Marco Bezzecchi, on his Aprilia, was delighted to see first place fall into his lap. Although he was alone in second place, with a lead over Johann Zarco (who was himself safe from the chasing pack), the Italian gave Aprilia an important victory for a team in turmoil (with the Jorge Martin affair). Marc Márquez is also the big winner from Quartararo's retirement. The official Ducati rider takes 3rd place on the podium, and although he tried for a few moments to push to catch Zarco, he finally secured his place, no doubt thinking that he was the great survivor of a crazy scenario! On the final lap, Marquez even came under pressure with a tough battle against Franco Morbidelli for 3rd place.

But the VR46 rider was happy to take fourth place, having retired after the first start. Alex Márquez rode a cautious race and settled for 5th place. Quietly, Pedro Acosta (KTM) was sixth ahead of Jack Miller, who was still struggling with his tires. Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) was eighth (before being downgraded for lack of rear tire pressure) ahead of Fermín Aldeguer and Fabio Di Giannantonio.

In the championship standings, Marc Marquez leaves Silverstone with a slightly larger lead (+24 pts) over his brother. Bagnaia is 48 points behind, but remains in 3rd place in the championship. Johann Zarco takes 5th place in the championship with his second place and his excellent weekend in England.
See you in Spain on June 6 for the 2025 Aragon Grand Prix!

Vincent Beaucousin - Image credits: Yamaha Racing