MotoGP saddles up for Silverstone | Preview | Schedule

2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship
Round 12 – Silverstone

MotoGP returns to Silverstone this weekend after a one-year hiatus due to Covid, revisiting one of the fastest and longest (5.9 km) venues on the calendar. Two of the current three category leaders have zero race laps at the British circuit under their belt, making it anyone’s game. Due to the pandemic the 2020 race was cancelled, so this will be only the second visit to the circuit with its new asphalt since it was completely resurfaced in 2019, and it will be held in front of a very welcome full house of spectators following the recent easing of Covid restrictions in England. All MotoGP records were set in 2019 and currently Marc Marquez holds both the race lap record of 1m59.936 and the all-time lap record of 1m58.168. However, the top speed record of 333.3 km/h was set by Cal Crutchlow.

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) is the rider for whom the italics on zero racing laps apply. The Championship leader does have experience at the track on a MotoGP bike and qualified fourth in 2019, he just didn’t make it further than the exit of Turn 1 after being unsettled by a rider ahead and going down. Could that prove crucial? The track has often been good turf for Yamaha though, especially in the hands of Jorge Lorenzo, so that should be a firm tick in the pro column.

Fabio Quartararo

“I‘m starting the British GP with a very positive mood. We extended our championship lead after Spielberg, and Silverstone is a circuit that I really love. We made a big step there in 2019 in terms of performance. I think that this race will be a good one if the conditions are good. If it rains, we’ll have to see, but in any case, we will do our best. My goal is to fight for the victory, firstly because this is one my favourite tracks and secondly because it‘s an important GP for the team.”

Speaking of Yamaha, there will be some different faces in the Iwata stable at Silverstone. Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) remains, steadfastly on the search for another solid finish as he races at Silverstone for the final time in MotoGP.

Valentino Rossi

“I really like Silverstone; it’s a great track and is one of my favourites. It’s long and has everything there: fast parts, medium ones and it’s very technical in places. Usually we are quite strong there, so hopefully this will be the case again this year, and I hope that we have good weather this weekend. I think the weather forecast is okay at the moment but you have to be ready for everything there – it can start dry and end wet, or only be wet in some places. I’m really looking forward to being back there this weekend.”

Joining Quartararo in the Monster Energy Yamaha garage is now Cal Crutchlow as he moves from filling in for Franco Morbidelli to filling in for Maverick Viñales.

Cal Crutchlow

“I am happy to be riding for Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP at the British Grand Prix. It was nice to get back to riding in Austria after a long time off, so I am now looking forward to racing for the Factory Team and working with my Test Team Crew Chief Silvano Galbusera and all of the team members, that I know well.”

That means that there’s a new face joining the ranks to replace Morbidelli: Jake Dixon. The Moto2 rider takes on the premier class for the first time this weekend, and on home turf no less. He has experience on bigger capacity machinery from his days in BSB, but MotoGP is a whole new challenge – and what a track to take on.

Jake Dixon

“This weekend will be difficult, jumping on the big bike for the first time at my home GP, but I’m really looking forward to it. It’s always exciting to be racing at home, but this year it’s going to be extra special. The home support is always amazing there, I love the track and I think it’s going to be a great experience. To have a big crowd there and the knowledge of the circuit is really going to help me this weekend, although I’m obviously not looking for any particular result. I’m just going to go out and enjoy it!”

But back to the top three, and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) as the aforementioned “outside the top ten as a rookie”. After his storming of the podium late on in Austria though, that is nevertheless some valuable experience to add to his current form heading into the weekend. And Silverstone has been painted Ducati red before. On the hunt for that maiden win, Bagnaia is now the closest challenger to Quartararo but by literally nothing in terms of points, so can he sustain his momentum and stay ahead, or even cut that gap?

Francesco Bagnaia

“In the last race at the Red Bull Ring, in Austria, we came very close to victory once again, and this confirms that we are working well. Now we are second in the Championship, and it is crucial to continue to be consistent to get as close as possible to the top of the standings. Silverstone is a less favourable track for the characteristics of our bike than Zeltweg, but if we can concentrate from Friday’s free practice onwards, we can be competitive. As always, here in England, the weather will play an important role, so we have to be ready to adapt to any track conditions“.

Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) will be keen to stop that happening and take back his previous position as top Ducati in the standings. As it is, he’s now second Ducati and fourth overall. He also has the added challenge of not having ridden Silverstone on Borgo Panigale machinery before.

Rookie team-mate Jorge Martin, by definition, is the same, but the number 89 will arrive with a bounce in his step after a win and a podium across two stunning weekends at the Red Bull Ring. And what about Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team)? The Australian had a more muted double header in Austria but he’s the rider in the top five with the most experience of the track on his current machinery, or similar.

Jack Miller

“The last two races in Austria didn’t exactly go as we hoped, so we come to Silverstone determined to move on and get a good result. In 2019, in the last GP held here, I had managed to get a front-row start and felt I could do well in the race, but unfortunately, a problem did not allow me to do so. In England, the weather is always uncertain, so we’ll have to work hard from the first sessions to be ready for Sunday’s race under any circumstances.”

Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), meanwhile, is the rider in the top three heading into a complete unknown. It seems a long time ago now to rewind back to before he was the reigning Champion, but as a rookie in 2019 his season was temporarily derailed by a crash in testing at Brno – and he missed the British GP. So he’s not done a single MotoGP session at the venue, but in some good news, the Suzuki most definitely has.

Joan Mir

“Every race this year is tougher because everybody is so competitive, the bikes are pretty equally matched, so it means that we are fighting harder to reach our goals. But as we’ve shown, even at tracks which don’t really suit our bike, like Austria, we’ve achieved good things. Silverstone will be strange and interesting for me because I’ve never ridden here on a MotoGP bike, so it’s been a long time since I’ve attacked the track – I’ll need to keep practicing on the PlayStation!”

The 2019 British GP was an instant classic. There have been a few of those in the last few years, haven’t there? But it truly was, with Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) just coming out on top against Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team). Rins has therefore shown the recent strength of the Hamamatsu machine around the venue, even when pitted against the man who took pole by four tenths with a new all-time lap record of a 1:58.168, when not too long ago the question was who would break the two-minute barrier.

Suzuki also won the 2016 event with Maverick Viñales. So the bike has form, can Mir and Rins add more? The reigning Champion will hope so as he stares down the chance to leapfrog Bagnaia, and Rins will too as he goes through a difficult season in 2021 so far.

Alex Rins

“I hope I can get a really good result here, but it will be difficult because all the bikes are very close on performance. But anyway I feel that our GSX-RR suits this track well and I really like riding here, so hopefully that will give us a little advantage. The memories from here in 2019 are still so fresh in my mind; it was incredible to win like that after a battle with Marc, and the celebrations with my team were fantastic. My crew have been working really hard this year and I would like to give them another good reason to celebrate!”

So what about Marc Marquez? The eight-time World Champion was the obvious favourite heading into Silverstone the last time we did, but since then he’s been through the biggest upheaval in his career. In Austria, however, he looked like he’d made another step forward in his recovery and his form, able to dice it out at the front for longer than we’ve seen – Germany aside – so far in 2021.

Marquez led the way into pitlane late on at the Red Bull Ring, thinking the rest would follow as he gambled to try and win his second race of the season. And they all did, except one… but more on him later. Marc Marquez will have taken heart from another bit of progress though, so what can he do at Silverstone? And can fellow Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu), who impressed in Styria, get back in the mix along with team-mate Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) and Marc Marquez’ team-mate Pol Espargaro?

Marc Marquez

“It will be great to see the British fans again after a year away. Racing in Austria with fans in the stands was enjoyable, so I am looking forward to doing it again in England! Our position between the races has not changed, this weekend is again all about working to improve and seeing what’s possible on Sunday. Last race we had the speed and were able to fight, but Silverstone is a very different circuit, and many can be strong there.”

Pol Espargaro

“Let’s see what this weekend in Silverstone can bring us. It’s a long circuit, which is quite different to where we just were. First, we need to understand how the bike is working there and then make our plan for the weekend but the goal is to improve and try to fix the problems we had in Austria. I enjoyed racing in front of fans again last time out, so it’s good news we will do it again this weekend.”

And now, back to the headline stealer in Austria: Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and another of those instant classics. The South African will arrive on the crest of a wave, and KTM in the midst of what’s become another frontrunning season, but Silverstone is a very different challenge. How will the Austrian factory measure up? The last time MotoGP raced there, a top ten was a realistic target.

Now, they expect far more. So will the step they made from 2019 to 2020 be apparent immediately? Or will less data mean more time needed out the box for both Binder and teammate Miguel Oliveira, who is likewise a race winner this season and will hopefully also be better recovered from his Styrian GP practice crash?

Tech3 KTM Factory Racing’s Danilo Petrucci has fond memories in Great Britain after he clinched his first premier class podium there in 2015. After he scored four points last time out in Austria, the Italian aims to continue to progress aboard his KTM RC16.

Danilo Petrucci

“Silverstone is a quite unique track compared to the others. It’s really nice, I always had good memories there, I scored my very first MotoGP podium there in wet conditions. For us now it’s another opportunity to hopefully get some points and good results overall. I definitely can’t wait to be back on my KTM RC16 this weekend!”

With his best ever MotoGP result to date reached at the Red Bull Ring a bit over one week ago, Iker Lecuona arrives in Silverstone highly motivated as well. The Spanish youngster, who saw the flag in sixth in Spielberg, is impatient to be riding his KTM RC16 for the first time at the British track.

Iker Lecuona

“For me it will be the first time in Silverstone with the MotoGP bike, so the target is to learn the track fast and continue to improve. During the last races, I made some good steps forward and felt really good with the bike. We have been fighting for a top 10 result again last time out, so it’s going to be the goal for this weekend as well.”

Hervé Poncharal – Tech3 KTM Team Manager

“It’s a great feeling for the MotoGP paddock to be back in Silverstone, where we haven’t been racing for almost two years. It’s quite difficult to give a prediction of how good we might be there because last time we have been at this place, the bike has been very different to what we have now and Miguel was doing a quite strong race, but he was t-boned by another KTM, which was the end of his 2019 season. So hopefully things will be better, safer and the overall result will be more positive than the one we had in 2019. Last time out, our two riders ended up well inside the points in Austria and I hope this has given a great boost to Danilo’s and Iker’s moral. We really hope both of them will carry on pushing and showing their potential as well as the potential of the KTM RC16. Silverstone is a beautiful circuit, where we always see great racing. It has very fast corners and the last section of the track is always crazy to watch and is always giving the possibility for the final positions in the last lap and especially in this final sector. The British fans are always very enthusiastic and I’m pretty sure they will have missed MotoGP a lot. Therefore, I think everybody is happy to return to Silverstone. Although it’s now out of Europe, which for me is a great shame. Nevertheless, hopefully it will be a great weekend of sport, a great weekend of MotoGP and a great weekend for Tech3 KTM Factory Racing.”

Aprilia likewise arrive with a little less recent data given the gap in events at Silverstone, but the Noale factory also have an RS-GP that was given a complete overhaul. Can they continue to hit the ground running and get in that fight? Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) was incredibly close to getting that podium last time out before losing ground in the final stages, so the goal will remain that top five finish aka a best in the MotoGP era.

2021 MotoGP Standings

2021 British Grand Prix – Silverstone Schedule

2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar

(Subject to change)

Moto2

Picture the scene: you’ve bounced back from your toughest race of the season to take a stunner of a win, and in doing so you’ve wrestled back the momentum and closed the gap to your teammate, the Championship leader. What you probably want less than anything as the next round on the calendar is a track you’ve only ever raced once before, in a different class, that’s familiar turf for the rider you’re chasing. But such is the challenge for Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) as Moto2 arrives at Silverstone.

There’s good and bad news all round though. For Raul Fernandez it’s that he qualified on the front row when he did race at Silverstone in Moto3 in 2019, and that his speed this year in the intermediate class hasn’t particularly correlated with whether he’s raced a venue 20 times or two. It’s just correlated with being extremely fast, very consistent, and largely error-free.

For Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo), the rider atop the standings, the same can be said but his previous experience also makes for good reading – including on Moto2 machinery. Silverstone saw him take his second best result of the 2019 season, a fourth place, on his last visit to the track and he may not have been quite in the driving seat at the Red Bull Ring but he remains so in the standings.

That’s why risk vs reward is key, isn’t it? Because not every race will be a win. And 2021 Gardner did in Austria what 2021 Gardner does very well: keep his head when it doesn’t quite go to plan, and bring it home for some valuable points. Will the Aussie make it his mission to strike back?

Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing Team VR46), meanwhile, had an even tougher bump down the order from Styria to Austria. Taking his first win of the season in style first time out at the Red Bull Ring, his second weekend at the track saw him come home in a muted 10th place. He’ll want revenge but hasn’t got the same experience of Silverstone as many, so he’ll be pushing to cut any initial deficit quickly.

One rider with a lot of experience, however, is the home hero: Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team). The Brit has plenty of kilometers – or more fittingly, miles – under his belt at Silverstone, and he’s had a bit of a tougher run of late but took a solid fourth last time out as a good springboard heading onto home turf. Can he get back on the podium in front of a home crowd who’ll be cheering him on? He’ll certainly be pushing to the limit to try.

The last Moto2 winner at Silverstone is the rider on the other side of the Elf Marc VDS Racing Team garage though: Augusto Fernandez. And after a start to the season he describes as on the pace but crashing away the points, the Spaniard has managed to keep digging deep to find a seam of impressive consistency of late. His best ever in terms of the rostrum, in fact, with three in a row. Will that continue at a venue he’s tamed more recently than anyone?

Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), on the other side of the coin, faces the same conundrum as Raul Fernandez as he arrives on the crest of a wave, in his case a first intermediate class podium, to a venue he doesn’t know well. Can he reel in the others who also count on a little less experience of Silverstone who’ve been pipping him on Sunday – the likes of Raul Fernandez and Bezzecchi – to stay in that frontrunning postcode?

Ogura is also now equal on points with Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) too, but the Italian will be pushing to make his experience – including a top six in 2019 – count in trying to pull that gap back out. And what can Aron Canet (Kipin Energy Aspar Team) do? He needs to find some consistency as he’s already found impressive podiums, but he’s only just inside the top five, one point ahead of Augusto Fernandez and only three ahead of Ogura down in eighth. The fight behind Lowes in the standings is only getting tighter…

19 points now separate Gardner at the top from his teammate in second, and the two arrive with two very different hills to climb at Silverstone. Can Raul Fernandez hit the ground running? Can Gardner turn the tables? Or will those snapping at their heels in the standings come out swinging in the Monster Energy British Grand Prix?

Moto2 Championship Points Standings

Moto3

In Moto3 Silverstone it may have more of an effect than elsewhere, however, as some riders arrive with a CV as long as the Hamilton Straight and some arrive with what amounts to a blank slate.

Championship leader Pedro Acosta, being a rookie, has been riding at each 2021 venue for the first time on his Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 machinery. But many of the tracks he’s conquered are ones he got to know in his tenure in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and the FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship – or pre-season testing. It makes his campaign no less impressive, but it begs a question as we head back onto British turf with Acosta 41 points ahead in the standings: is this first contact a real chance for those on the chase to fight back?

Closest challenger and Austrian GP winner Sergio Garcia (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) has done one weekend at Silverstone, 2019, which the stats gurus will remember was also the year he debuted in the World Championship; too young to even race in the season openers. Since then he’s added a whole lot of experience, of the podium and top step to boot, so can that little bit of extra track knowledge help him take advantage? He’ll be hoping so, but some of the riders lurking in the standings have even more.

There are two more key faces in the standings who have a single race at the track under their belts: Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) and Ayumu Sasaki (Red Bull KTM Tech3), and both finished in the top eight in that 2019 race. However, both also count on a Grand Prix weekend’s worth of experience from 2018… it just doesn’t include the race itself as the track conditions put paid to that. Can they make that count?

Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo), meanwhile, was back on good form at the Red Bull Ring and his Silverstone exploits take the previous experience counter to two. As well as those two races, he’d also been set to start second by just 0.001 as Jorge Martin pipped him to pole in 2018. Can he use his proven speed to turn the tables on teammate Acosta this time out?

Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing) is next up of the Championship top eight. He’s raced the venue three times, plus the 2018 sessions, and the South African arrives looking to get back on his early season podium form too. Next is Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team), who remains third in the Championship as his consistency and consistent speed rolls on, and he ramps up the count to six.

He’s never taken a podium, however… that honour belongs solely to compatriot Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia VR46). Antonelli hits a magnificent seven previous races at Silverstone, plus 2018 but including that 2015 rostrum finish. Coming back from injury and now eighth, one point behind Sasaki, he’ll want to join the Japanese rider in finding a little more luck.

The real veteran on the grid at the British GP, however, is John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing). Fittingly, the home hero has eight races under his belt at Silverstone, stretching back to his third ever Grand Prix appearance in 2011 in the 125cc World Championship. After a rollercoaster start to 2021, his luck has turned a little of late and it’s four points-paying positions in a row for the number 17, including a sixth and a seventh. Can he outfox the opposition on home turf?

The Moto3 class is seldom just a numbers game, however, and there are plenty of riders who’ll be joining Acosta in trying to hit the ground running. Fellow 2021 rookie Izan Guvevara (Valresa GASAGS Aspar Team) had a revelatory ride in Austria and will want to get to grips with the track, and the riders whose first full season was 2020 likewise face a race against the veterans, including Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Jeremy Alcoba (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3), whose route to 2020 Rookie of the Year did not include Silverstone.

His teammate Gabriel Rodrigo also needs a turnaround in form and will be one of those on the other side of the coin looking to use experience to his advantage, as will the likes of Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) and Kaito Toba (CIP Green Power).

5.9km of fast, flowing tarmac awaits the Moto3 class at Silverstone. Will it be a group showdown, or can someone break away? Will the weather stay dry or should we expect some rain to come to stay? And will experience really count once the lights go out and another 100.3km of Moto3 racing gets underway… or will Acosta stay ahead of the game?

Moto3 Championship Points Standings