A bruising day one for some at Silverstone MotoGP

2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship
Round 12 – Silverstone

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) shot out the blocks at Silverstone, the Championship leader ending Day 1 of the Monster Energy British Grand Prix over half a second clear despite an FP2 crash.

Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) was second quickest, with Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) also bouncing back, in his case from an FP1 tumble, to take third on first contact with Silverstone on MotoGP machinery.

MotoGP Rider Quotes

Fabio Quartararo – P1

“Everything is okay. My left foot is a little bit sore, but it’s nothing too serious. I’ve been to the medical centre and went back on the bike, and it was okay. On the bike it’s not an issue, just when I’m walking I have quite a lot of pain. But, honestly, the most important thing is that on the bike I have no pain. I knew I was going to be fast with the soft tyre. I wasn’t pushing to the limit on the medium tyre. I was doing my own pace, and I was quite impressed by my lap times. In that moment I knew that with the softs I could be much faster. I knew I was going to be fighting for the top-3 positions, but I never expected to be first by half a second. I need to go back to the Clinica Mobile later. I kind of twisted my ankle, so they will put some ice on it and tape it to strengthen it. It should be fine tomorrow.”

Jack Miller – P2

“I’m thrilled to be back at Silverstone! It’s an old-style track with lots of corners, where it’s always great fun to race. Compared to 2019, the last year the GP was held here, the asphalt conditions have improved significantly, which is also positive in terms of tyre wear. Compared to two years ago, my feeling with the bike has improved a lot, and this also shows how the Desmosedici GP has made huge steps forward in recent years! We have a really great bike this year, shown by the fact that we are always competitive on every track. Now we will continue to work hard to try to improve again tomorrow. There were already a lot of fans in the stands today, and I hope we can give them a great show this Sunday!”

Jorge Martín – P3

“I feel great on the bike. Since this morning, we have taken a big step forward. I lose time at turns 9 and 10, but tomorrow we will work hard to improve in this sector.”

Pol Espargaro – P4

“It was a good day, but not our best day so far. Everything was going quite well today, this is true. With the medium tyres we couldn’t push too much because it has still been quite cold but we found a good direction with the soft in these conditions. There are no complaints today and right now I am feeling good with the bike, the track, the temperature, and everything is coming smoothly to us. It’s all working well but today doesn’t matter in FP3 and it does not matter on Sunday, so we need to keep working to improve. It’s not the time to get excited, it’s the time to work.”

Marc Marquez – P5

“Today I was feeling really good from the start, I went out and I was riding like I wanted to. Unfortunately, at the end of FP1 we had a big crash and I got some dirt inside my eye which caused some crying during FP2 and it was difficult to concentrate well and perform at my best. Even in this situation we were able to perform well but after FP2 the eye felt worse, my vision has always been ok, but I went to the hospital to get it properly cleaned. Now I will take some rest, keep the eye closed and be ready for tomorrow. The aim is to keep this level until Sunday.”

Francesco Bagnaia – P6

“I’m pleased with the work we’ve done on this first day. In FP1, I struggled a little bit with the lack of grip, but in the afternoon, we improved a lot and took a big step forward with the bike. It was very cold this afternoon, which made it difficult to make a time attack, so I preferred not to take too many risks. Anyway, we are sixth, and this is a sign that we are doing a great job. Quartararo and Márquez were fast today, but I’m not worried: I’m sure that tomorrow we’ll be able to take another big step forward”.

Aleix Espargaro – P7

“I’m satisfied. The RS-GP is working well overall. I managed to be fast and consistent, especially in race configuration, whereas with the soft tyre, partly due to some problems with traffic, I was unable to improve as much as I would have expected. I know it’s only Friday, but here in Silverstone with the unpredictable weather, it’s important to be fast in every session. We’ll have to work on this and try to find a little something more with the soft tyre so we aren’t penalised too much by our starting position.”

Alex Rins – P9

“It’s been a cold day here in Silverstone, but despite this my feeling wasn’t actually bad and I have good consistent pace. I was pretty fast with used tyres, but then when I put the soft tyre in I didn’t manage to improve as much as I wanted because the feeling wasn’t so good. The main thing I need to work on now is setting a fast lap, and that will be the aim for tomorrow. At the moment I’m in the Top 10, and hopefully it will stay like that so I can go directly into Q2 tomorrow.”

Valentino Rossi – P10

“Today was a good day for me, especially to be within the top-ten at the end of the day. This was important to do. Although if tomorrow morning is dry, then that will be the practice that decides the Q2 places. I have a good feeling with the bike, although I was not able to give my maximum in FP1 because of the red flag, but my pace was not so bad. In the afternoon I tried the hard tyre, but it was not the best in those conditions. At the end of the session, with the soft tyre, I did a good lap though. It’s always a great pleasure to ride at Silverstone because it is a fast, technical circuit with a lot of corners. The new asphalt also provides a lot of grip and they have done a very good job with the layout.”

Iker Lecuona – P11

“I’m very happy. This morning, I was working hard with the bike, we tried something on the base and I felt good on the last run with used tyres. This afternoon, we tried to improve this base even more. One more time, I managed to go faster by myself and later on following someone else. I felt really good, very strong with the bike. I tried to follow Marc (Marquez) and lost only a few tenths. I nearly ended up inside the top 10, so I’m very satisfied for myself and for my team. We will see, what is going to happen tomorrow, but we are there.”

Enea Bastianini – P12

“It was a very cold day and not the best conditions. This morning we started off on the right foot and managed to put in some good laps. In the afternoon, on the hard rear tire, I didn’t feel quite right, so we focused on finding a good rhythm on the medium tire. We did some tests on the rear to try to get the bike to turn a bit better and with the soft tire I felt better than usually. I think we can take advantage of the strengths of the Ducati, we are ready for tomorrow and we will fight for the top-10.”

Joan Mir – P13

“I really enjoyed riding this amazing track for the first time with the GSX-RR, but I had some trouble – in FP1 something was not feeling right with the front tyre that we used and I lost a lot of confidence, and then in FP2 it was much better but I needed more laps. We spent quite a lot of that second session understanding and building on the speed, but in the end there was just not enough time to make up for the struggles in FP1. We need to adjust a few things, which is usual when you come somewhere for the first time. The main thing is that we still had some improvement, but today I wasn’t competitive and tomorrow I want to be.”

Johann Zarco – P14

“I am struggling a lot with the rear; this does not allow me to express myself at my best. Together with the team, we will continue trying to resolve this situation and set a good lap-time tomorrow in FP3.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P15

“This morning it was quite good, and we found good performance and ended up the session in P6. In FP2 we had a tough session and found a lack of rear grip throughout the 45 minutes, and couldn’t make a good lap time at the end – so we dropped down to P15.  We have a lot of work to do for tomorrow and we need to improve in several areas. We’ll check the data and hopefully we can improve the feeling on the bike for tomorrow.”

Cal Crutchlow – P16

“It was a day of learning again. In Austria I got used to the feeling of the 2019 bike. I hadn’t ridden the 2021 bike since the start of April. The feeling was a little bit different, and the position on the bike was a bit different. The mechanics worked very well to give me a better feeling with the bike in that area. Overall, it was not a bad day. I felt okay and comfortable enough. I wanted to be a bit faster than I was, but this is the situation at the moment. I felt we did a good job. We made some good changes. Tomorrow we expect more. We will make more changes, and we expect to have the bike similar to how I had it at the test, which is a bit different and more experimental than those of the other guys. Overall, the Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP team worked great today, and we look forward to tomorrow.”

Luca Marini – P17

“It was a very cold Friday with very difficult track conditions. Due to the cold, I had very little grip during FP1 and I had some problems. In FP2 I started better and with the medium tire I felt good. It was a pity about the two time attacks, because we found a lot of traffic and I couldn’t use my full potential. The feeling is good and the Top-10 is not far away. We still have to improve in some aspects to fight for the direct access to Q2 in FP3 tomorrow.”

Danilo Petrucci – P18

“I was quite happy about the feeling I have, but like always I can’t really use the extra grip of the soft tyre. It’s an issue, as our pace is quite good, but I can’t really improve my lap time on one single fast lap. I’m very consistent, but somehow limited to go faster in order to make a step forward in the classification. We will try to improve our lap time tomorrow. I think we are in a good shape, but we have to have a better Qualifying compared to the other rounds and then we can manage a decent race.”

Álex Márquez – P20

“The first day in Silverstone was a little bit complicated with the crashes. With a spill in the morning and another in the afternoon session, it didn’t help us show the potential we had today, which actually in the morning was quite good. Apart from that I think we need to take the positives out of this first day, we can be positive going into tomorrow because we’ve seen lots of good things. It’s true that we are far from the top guys, but here the differences are always bigger. We need to keep going like that and keep improving and I am looking forward to making a step forward tomorrow and forgetting about this first day.”

Jake Dixon – P21

“It’s been an incredible day and experience, especially in FP1 because there was a lot to take in and a lot of things going on. I was so slow on the first lap because of this. All my timings for braking and accelerating were out because it’s just so different on the MotoGP bike. The afternoon was a lot more enjoyable because I was able to enjoy the speed of the bike and I was more in control of everything. So many things impressed me, like the speed and how much lean angle you can get because of the grip the tyres give. The team has been incredible, it was a really special day for me and I can’t wait for tomorrow. I want to keep improving every session, which I did this afternoon by 1.3 seconds on the same tyre, so if we keep doing this we’re good.”

Lorenzo Savadori – P22

“To be honest, I expected things to go better, but the fact is that you can never really know what the situation is until you get on a MotoGP bike. The track doesn’t help either. It is a very physical circuit and right now I’m unable to push and ride the way I’d like to. We tried not to turn too many laps today in order to keep the situation from getting worse. We’re working on all fronts, from pain killers to my position in the saddle to my boots. We’ll see how the situation is tomorrow and evaluate how to proceed from there.”

FP1

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) stole all the headlines in the morning. The eight-time World Champion was the fastest, and the only rider under the 2-minute barrier, but he also brought out the Red Flag for a fast crash through Maggots and Becketts. It was a lowside but a 270km/h lowside, leaving rider and bike sliding over the grass and gravel. The result was rider ok, bike not so much, and the Red Flag came out.

0.250 behind Marc Marquez was Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) as the Spaniard slotted into second, pipping Quartararo by 0.110. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team), who had a grandstand seat for teammate Marquez’ slide in the closing stages, took fourth by just 0.035, with Miller closing out the top five within less than a tenth.

Jake Dixon (Petronas Yamaha SRT) made a solid first impression, ending FP1 on a 2:03.939 and only seven tenths off Luca Marini (Avintia VR46).

Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) crashed and Martin also went down, both at Turn 12 and both riders ok.

FP2

There was another headline-grabbing crash in the afternoon, this time for Quartararo. The Frenchman went down at Turn 8, avoiding a highside by letting go early, and was initially holding his ankle and appeared in some pain. He was able to walk away and head back to the garage, however, as well as heading back out on track and going… even faster. So he was quickest, with a whopping 0.512 in hand over Miller.

Martin bounced back from his FP1 crash to leap up into third late in FP2, with Pol Espargaro and Marc Marquez completing the top five as they retained some good speed. Marc Marquez later explained he did have some sand in his eye from the crash though, causing irritation and affecting his FP2 running. Heading to the hospital for the ok, the number 93 says it should be fine for Saturday.

Alex Marquez was the other crasher in the afternoon, after Quartararo.

Combined timesheets

FP2 timesheets are the combined timesheets as everyone improved, leaving Quartararo dominant after Day 1 ahead of Miller, Martin, Pol Espargaro and Marc Marquez.

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was sixth quickest, just ahead of Aleix Espargaro. Austrian GP winner Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) impressed with one of his best Fridays of the season so far, riding at the track for the first time in the premier class, as he took eighth.

2019 Silverstone winner Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) was ninth, with Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) completing the top ten on Day 1 after a solid day at the office for the ‘Doctor’ as he makes his last call at the British GP.

Reigning Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar), riding at the track for the first time in MotoGP after having missed the 2019 edition through injury, was 13th.

Dixon shaved another 1.3 seconds off his best lap in the afternoon, getting to within around 1.2 of Alex Marquez and Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) ahead of him.

2021 MotoGP Combined Friday Practice

2021 MotoGP Standings

Moto2

Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) may be a Moto2 rookie and heading into Silverstone with less overall experience than many, but that didn’t stop him on Day 1 of the Monster Energy British Grand Prix. The Austria winner managed to pip 2019 Silverstone podium finisher Jorge Navarro (Lightech Speed Up) by just 0.017, with home hero Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) third overall but another three tenths back.

FP1

Navarro was the fastest rider in the morning, beating most recent Silverstone Moto2 winner Augusto Fernandez (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) to the top by jut under a tenth and a half. The two had a huge advantage over the rest, with Championship leader Remy Gardner (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in third but 0.582 off the top.

Raul Fernandez started his Silverstone Moto2 debut well in fourth, 0.125 off Gardner, with Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) making a leap back up the timesheets into the postcode more expected of the American as he took fifth – pipping home hero Lowes. The Brit was also the only faller of the session, but rider ok.

FP2

FP2 saw Raul Fernandez strike back. He was fastest, Navarro took over, and then the number 25 finally laid down his 2:04.501 to stay quickest. Lowes managed to leapfrog teammate Augusto Fernandez, and Gardner lurked in fifth.

Somkiat Chantra (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia), Albert Arenas (Kipin Energy Aspar Moto2) and Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing Team VR46) all crashed, riders ok.

Moto2 Combined Friday Practice

The top 12 all set their best efforts in FP2, so it’s Raul Fernandez, Navarro, Lowes, Augusto Fernandez and Gardner in the top five.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) took sixth ahead of Bezzecchi, with Roberts in P8 as he retained good speed in the afternoon. Nicolo Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) was ninth quickest, with Aron Canet (Kipin Energy Aspar Team) rounding out the top ten.

Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) was 11th, with Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) in P12 and the last of those on for a provisional place in Q2 who set their best in FP1.

Pertamina Mandalika SAG teammates Bo Bendsneyder and Tom Lüthi, the latter racing at the British GP for the final time before retiring, took P13 and P14 on the combined times thanks to their FP1 bests.

Moto2 Combined Friday Practice Times

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3

Romano Fenati (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) ends Day 1 of the Monster Energy British Grand Prix as the fastest man in Moto3, the Italian taking to the top in both sessions to lay an early claim to Silverstone. By the end of play, Ayumu Sasaki (Red Bull KTM Tech3) had cut over half a second to a tenth and a half of advantage, with Niccolo Antonelli (Avintia VR46 Academy) returning from injury to get within 0.199 of the top.

FP1

Fenati absolutely dominated the timesheets in FP1. The Italian was six tenths clear of the field, although that field was led by Jeremy Alcoba (Indonesian Racing Gresini Moto3) despite the Spaniard never having raced at Silverstone. His teammate Gabriel Rodrigo was just half a tenth further back.

Sasaki was fourth, fast from the off and 0.060 ahead of Championship leader Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) as the rookie hit the ground running. His closest challenger – and the Austrian GP winner – Sergio Garcia (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) was 14th quickest.

John McPhee (Petronas Sprinta Racing) was unfortunately the first crasher at the British GP, but he was up and ok. Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) and Stefano Nepa (BOE Owlride) also went down, riders ok.

FP2

Fenati was once again the man to beat, and had a similar advantage to the morning until the final few minutes. Sasaki was then able to cut that gap, and Antonelli too, with three riders in two tenths a lot more Moto3-esque.

Riccardo Rossi (BOE Owlride) impressed to take P4, with Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) just 0.006 further back.

Filip Salač (CarXpert PrüstelGP) was the sole faller. He went down at Turn 1, rider ok.

Moto3 Combined Timesheets

All improved in the afternoon barring Alcoba and Yuki Kunii (Honda Team Asia), leaving the top 14 – and potential Q2-graduates – unchanged from the FP2 results.

Fenati, Sasaki, Antonelli, Rossi and Foggia are therefore the top five, with Darryn Binder (Petronas Sprinta Racing) slotting into sixth ahead of Deniz Öncü as the Turk bounced back from his FP1 crash. So did Fellon, and the French rookie impressed in P8.

Acosta is ninth on the combined timesheets ahead of Rodrigo, with Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Izan Guevara (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) and Nepa the last set to move through as it stands. McPhee was the rider just denied, with Garcia down in P17.

Moto3 Combined Friday Practice Times

Moto3 Championship Standings

2021 British Grand Prix – Silverstone Schedule

2021 FIM MotoGP World Championship calendar

(Subject to change)