MotoGP 2023
Round Nine Silverstone
MotoGP Rider Quotes British GP
Aleix Espargaro – P1
“Today I realised straight away that I’d be able to do well. The Aprilia had traction here and I knew that I had some margin over Bagnaia on some corners. I preferred waiting until the final lap, especially when I saw a few drops of rain. There were some really slippery spots and it would have been easy to make a mistake. Besides that, I noticed that Pecco was managing his tyres and I didn’t want to risk being beaten in the finale. I am extremely happy for myself and for Aprilia. In the first part of the season, we did not earn the points we expected and deserved for various reasons, but we kept believing and working. This is the right path.”
Francesco Bagnaia – P2
“We started with the soft tyre because the conditions weren’t the best, and we were a bit on the limit at the front. Then it started to rain, and I could not understand how much I could push. I was quite scared in some parts of the track because it was raining a bit too much. I tried to control everything and stay in front, but I saw that Aleix was with more traction, and I was losing time in acceleration. I tried everything, but it wasn’t enough, but I am happy with the result and with the weekend, as today was a good day. Yesterday wasn’t ideal, but today we took what was our objective already yesterday. Races are like this, and we must be happy with what we have done, so it has been a positive weekend for sure.”
Brad Binder – P3
“Really tricky, and very sketchy at the end! This track is so big and covers so much space that it was wet in some sectors and dry in others: it was hard to understand how much I could push! Hats off to the team; they did an amazing job and the bike was fantastic, I wanted the win for them today but 3rd will have to do. Days like this are awesome for a podium finish just because of how difficult it was.”
Miguel Oliveira – P4
“I’m happy! Of course, when you finish that close to the podium and having been in third for a couple of times in the last part of the race, it’s a shame. But I’m still happy to start the second half of the season in a good way, it definitely motivates us to keep going. Although, our approach is to take it race by race and try to do the best that we can. I’m also very happy that Aleix (Espargaro) won the race, having three Aprilia in the top five at this track definitely gives us a good feeling.”
Maverick Vinales – P5
“First of all, I’d like to congratulate Aprilia for the fantastic win. It was a great weekend, first with my podium in the Sprint Race and then with Aleix’s victory. We all did an outstanding job! My race started well, but unfortunately, I then lost some valuable seconds in my attempt to overtake Miller. My apologies to him for the manoeuvre, but I was sucked into Alex Marquez’s slipstream and at that point I had no choice but to release the brakes and go in. I pushed extremely hard to close the gap behind the leaders and that limited me in the finale. In any case, I’m satisfied with the weekend. I feel good on the bike and with the team. Our start has improved and we were consistently in the battle for the top spots. We’ll keep working hard, well aware of our great potential.”
Luca Marini – P7
“I was expecting a better feeling today and also a different position. I have struggled a lot, especially immediately after the start. When the track isn’t rubberised, I have no feeling at the rear and I lose a lot in acceleration. I had to give up positions, then the sensations started to get better and, with more tire, I set some good lap times. It started to rain and I found myself battling with other riders, but I was unable to move up the standings. I was expecting a different weekend, I lose a lot in acceleration in these conditions, an aspect on which we have to work a lot also for the future.”
Jack Miller – P8
“That’s definitely not how I wanted the weekend to end up here at Silverstone, and to leave here with a seventh in the Sprint and eighth in the Grand Prix … it’s less than you’d hope for, obviously. But even before I had the incident with (Aprilia’s) Maverick (Vinales) on Sunday, I knew it was going to be a tough one.
“I made another good start – the KTM is awesome for that! – and went out in front off the get-go but straight away I felt I was struggling for grip. I thought maybe the track was more slippery because it had been pissing down rain on Saturday, but once (Ducati’s) Pecco (Bagnaia) came past me I realised I was suffering for grip and just couldn’t get it working from the start. It was everywhere too – entry, exit, mid-corner – I just wasn’t able to force the bike, especially on the right-hand side of the tyre, so I was just trying to consolidate my position on lap three when Maverick pushed me off. I was suffering before that anyway, but …
“Look, at the end of the day it’s just racing, and what goes around comes around with these things. Definitely ambitious from him, but there’s not too much more to say about it. Mav came up to me after and apologised, I accepted his apology, and that’s the end of it. I don’t think he intended to send me out that far, and I kind of got unlucky because there’s about a metre of grass between the two asphalts there that outlines the track, and I was definitely a bit cautious going through the grass and kept it nice and straight because I knew it would be pretty wet with how much it has bucketed down all weekend.
“By the time I came back on the track I was way back and needed something to come my way, and I kind of got that when the rain started coming and I could use that to move forward. I caught the group in front, a couple of the boys pitted to do bike swaps and a couple more crashed, and I was able to make a pass or two and get back to eighth. So, that was nice at least, but not what I signed up for.
“Silverstone’s always an enjoyable track, and coming back here after a long break – it’s probably one of the better ones on the calendar with the old-school aspects to it. You can never get the perfect set-up around here because you’ve got the hard braking zones, the fast and flowing corners … it’s a compromise. But it’s a challenge too, which is what we like. Qualy went well and I felt good in the full wet, second was equal with Jerez for the best I’ve done since I’ve been here at KTM. We still have some work to do in those half-half not quite wet or dry conditions, because I’ve not done too much of that since I’ve been here. There’s still a lot to learn here, but we definitely have a good base to work off.
“It was good to be back on the bike, don’t get me wrong, but I had an awesome five- week break back at home. It was bloody busy, back at home working for a two-and- a-half weeks – it made me appreciate being a MotoGP rider! – and it was a lot of fun with building the motocross track at home we’ve been planning for ages. It’s amazing, better than I could have ever imagined … it’ll be cool when I can share the video of it with you guys, which we’ll definitely be doing soon.
“Anyway, we’ll work on what we learned this weekend and come back swinging next time in Austria. (KTM teammate) Brad (Binder) was up on the podium today so we have some pace … Austria being a home race for the team too means we’ll be keen to get back into it.”
Raul Fernandrez – P10
“The race was good, I learnt a lot. I was with Marc (Marquez), Fabio (Quartararo) and Enea (Bastianini) almost throughout all the race and I think I did a really good job. But the last part of the race, with the rain it was a bit too difficult to manage and I didn’t want to make a mistake and take a lot of risks, so I saved the position I was in. This is my best race of the year and I’m taking away a lot of experience for the future and know that we can do more.”
Augusto Fernandez – P11
“It was a tricky weekend but we paid today for our lack of experience with dry conditions here. We had an awesome quali and Sprint but we missed some key track time. I lost positions at the start because I didn’t quite have the confidence I needed but I learned every lap and was building up the pace. In the end my rhythm was not bad at all. We’ll take the points and keep going.”
Pol Espargaro – P12
“Oh, very difficult today. I felt I had some decent speed at the beginning but after a while my body started to lock-up a bit. I think all the energy of the weekend just caught me and all the pushing to come back from injury. I wanted to attack but I didn’t have the force today. I saw some riders pitting to change bikes with the rain and I kept going to try and make some points. I’m honestly looking forward to my next time on the bike and to keep building.”
Fabio Di Giannantonio – P13
“Three races in one today. Two comebacks, the rain, the pit stop… All sorts of things happened and maybe we could have had a bit better luck during the whole weekend. We had a great pace and we could have battled with the top guys both on the dry and in wet conditions. We still did our race and we’ll go to Austria with plenty of confidence.”
Franco Morbidelli – P14
“The bike swap wasn‘t the right choice, but I saw some rain, and I was struggling already for three or four laps because I had completely destroyed the front tyre. I couldn‘t have done anything anyway, so I hoped for some rain to come and changed the tyres, but it didn‘t pay off. The first half of the race was good, though. It was important to stay with the top guys to make a live comparison, and that‘s good information for the future.”
Fabio Quartararo – P15
“We started with a bike that we didn‘t really know, and for me it was great to test something on the bike. And that‘s it. I think it‘s interesting for the team, we got some great information. Starting from last to ride to P7 was great, so it was a good experience, and hopefully we can get a good evaluation for that part. It was good to get mileage on the new fairing and see how it works. But overtaking is still difficult for us. I was trying to overtake, but when you‘re that much on the limit, contact happens. I had contact with Luca and the front fairing came off.”
Takaaki Nakagami – P16
“I am quite disappointed after the race’s outcome because we are working hard to recover from this situation, which is difficult. I tried my best, and at least I understood during the race, with this package, which are the differences from the beginning to the last laps. Having this information, I am sure we’ll take a step forward in Austria. I want to thank the team for their job”.
Iker Lecuona – P17
“Despite the final result, we have found some positives today. Swapping bikes was a risky decision, but at that moment, one never knew if the strategy would pay off. This weekend we have worked hard alongside the LCR crew, and I want to thank them for their job. It has been a great opportunity for me. I did my best at race time with the current package, and although it was difficult, I learned a lot and had a great time”.
Marc Marquez – DNF
“Our race was complicated from the start as I lost my right wing when I had a small contact in the first lap. Then I crashed in an unlucky situation with Bastianini, but it was the type of crash where you don’t lose any confidence. Without one wing I was losing a lot under acceleration but at one point in the race it started to rain and I was able to make up some ground to the other riders. Aside from this, the weekend was not so bad when we look at our approach and what we were able to do in the race before the crash. We keep working, building our confidence and following our plan.”
Marco Bezzecchi – DNF
“A real shame, because we missed an important opportunity to achieve an important result at the end of a very positive weekend. As soon as I entered the corner, I had a front tire lock. I was in Pecco’s slipstream, so the bike didn’t stop, but actually brought even more speed. Then, at the second touch of the brake, I lost the front end and I was unable to do anything to avoid the crash. I’m going home to forget this Sunday and get back on track in Austria with the same pace seen here.”
Alex Marquez – DNF
“Not much to say… We had the pace to stay with the leaders. I started quite good an despite Bezzecchi and Bagnaia were quite far, I was well placed behind Espargaró and I was feeling good on the bike. Too bad because with today’s conditions we lost another chance to be among the protagonists.”
Joan Mir – DNF
“It was not the comeback I had wanted. The start was not good and I lost a lot of positions at the start. Then the feeling, especially under braking, was not what I was expecting and the bike was very nervous. I ran on as a result of this and fell in the gravel. Unfortunately, that’s our Sunday. We need to check everything well with the team and the engineers to improve for the upcoming weekend in Austria. Fortunately, I was not hurt in the crash, this is important.”
Enea Bastianini – DNF
“I’m not generally happy about the day but about the weekend. We changed a lot on the bike to arrive prepared for the race and to do something more, but nothing changed. The race was so difficult for me. Only in the braking I was strongest. In the other parts of the track, no. At the end, after the contact with Marc, something happened to the bike. There is a cut in the rear tyre, probably, I went straight on for this reason, and I crashed. Marc touched me in turn 11 on entry and crashed, then on turn 15, I tried to brake but went straight on. My main problem now is my sensation on the bike, for turning it’s not good, but probably we must make some bigger changes, but I need time to understand this. It was important to do this race, I did 16 laps, and now I have more data to give to my team.”
Team Managers
Francesco Guidotti – Red Bull KTM Team Manager
“A good weekend, especially for Brad’s podium. Jack was 1st and in the leading group until the contact with Viñales. Some good speed and good signs in various conditions at this Grand Prix. Brad fought until the end of the race and we are happy with the 3rd place. It’s important to see our progression. We missed the podium in Assen but we made it here and now we are looking forward to the home race with a lot of confidence.”
Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director
“Today‘s race was a rollercoaster ride for us. It was dry at the start, so we knew that we would be in with a chance if it stayed that way, but we were expecting rain anyway. Both our riders had a better start than yesterday, especially Fabio, who came from the back again but gained eight positions in just a few laps. We thought we could maybe get a double top-10 result, but it all went wrong for us in the final stages. Franky suffered from tyre degradation, causing him to lose ground. When it started raining, he decided to come in to swap the bike, but the rain never really came, so it didn‘t pay off. Fabio was impressive coming from 22nd on the grid, but he collided with Luca Marini while battling for seventh. Fabio kept the bike upright but was unlucky that his front fairing came off. He had to swap bikes and lost many positions. This 14th and 15th place don‘t show the full picture. The hard work and great riding of both riders deserved more, but that‘s racing. There is one small silver lining: because Fabio started from far behind on the grid, we decided it was worth trying the new aero package in a race setting, and we have evaluated it positively. We will now leave the weekend behind us and focus on doing better in two weeks‘ time in Austria.”
Razlan Razali – CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Principal
“What an amazing race and a remarkable recovery from both riders. The team needed that, we needed that, and we were so close to the podium. But, fourth is really good considering what we have been through, first independent team I think is really amazing. And for Raul to be tenth and for both riders to be in the top ten is fantastic. Congratulations to Aleix (Espargaro) as well, to have his first win for the year and good job to Aprilia. For the team, we are just extremely and hope that this is the beginning of our turn-around.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team Manager
“I’m very happy! Of course, it was a fantastic race by Miguel and Raul, both made a huge step. Miguel showed it in Portimao and fifth in Austin was good, but then he suffered with injuries and it’s very nice to see him back. I have to say thanks to him, we knew he could do it but every time something was going on, it was very painful knowing he has the pace and what he was able to do. Let’s look forward now and hopefully without any kind of injuries, we have 22 races to go to prove that this is our position and not just being in the points.
“For Raul, like motioned before, it was a big step. A bit more consistent and no mistakes in the race to get P10, and getting his best race result ever in MotoGP is very promising and not easy. He has been racing with many World Champions around him like Marc (Marquez) and Fabio (Quartararo), and in this race he learnt a lot and that’s very important for him.”
Pablo Nieto – Mooney VR46 Team Manager
“A difficult Sunday for Marco after an excellent Saturday with pole position and podium in the Sprint. This is our sport, anything can happen until the checkered flag and that’s what happened today. A real shame because Marco proved to be competitive in all conditions and he could have fought for the victory. It will certainly be a lesson and I’m sure he will return to Austria in two weeks, motivated to give even more. Well done Luca, yesterday he has struggled, while today he was able to close with a positive pace, also considering the conditions. Another very solid result thanks to the Team work with his crew.”
Nicolas Goyon – GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3 Team Manager
“An eventful Sunday! The rain played with the riders’ nerves but they both went through the drops and made a very positive result for the team. Augusto had high hopes for the race after his qualifying but his lack of dry track time and experience on this circuit forced him to drop back in the time sheets, nevertheless he did not give up. He worked seriously and watched the other guys, learning how to ride the bike here. His lap-times were good in the middle of the race. He didn’t pit and ended up at the door of the top ten. We’re happy. I want to give special thanks to Pol who achieved his first full weekend of the season and he followed the plan to finish all the sessions. He struggled with his condition but also didn’t give up and he managed to score 12th. Thanks to him.”
Piero Taramasso – Michelin
“The sky showed a range of colours and delivered precipitation which led our partners to use all or almost all of the options in our allocation. Only the Hard compound tyres remained in our workshops, because the very low temperatures led our partners to put them aside. On Saturday, we were once again able to prove that our Michelin Power Rain tyre range is perfectly suited to rain of any intensity. They worked wonderfully well in the heavy showers of MotoE, as well as on the soggy ground for the Sprint race in MotoGP. With such low temperatures it was necessary to maintain a high pace on the track to keep the tyres up to temperature, and given the high level of abrasiveness of the track it was also necessary to have tyres capable of offering a spectrum of performance and a very wide operating window. The riders at the forefront throughout the weekend said they were overwhelmed by the performance of our tyres in these particular conditions, which is a great reward for us.”
MotoGP Race Results
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Aleix ESPARGARO | APRILIA | 40m40.367 |
| 2 | Francesco BAGNAIA | DUCATI | +0.215 |
| 3 | Brad BINDER | KTM | +0.680 |
| 4 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | APRILIA | +0.750 |
| 5 | Maverick VIÑALES | APRILIA | +2.101 |
| 6 | Jorge MARTIN | DUCATI | +7.903 |
| 7 | Luca MARINI | DUCATI | +9.099 |
| 8 | Jack MILLER | KTM | +9.298 |
| 9 | Johann ZARCO | DUCATI | +9.958 |
| 10 | Raul FERNANDEZ | APRILIA | +19.947 |
| 11 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | KTM | +20.296 |
| 12 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | +1m06.120 |
| 13 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | DUCATI | +1m27.605 |
| 14 | Franco MORBIDELLI | YAMAHA | +1m28.913 |
| 15 | Fabio QUARTARARO | YAMAHA | +1m29.075 |
| 16 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | HONDA | +1m38.573 |
| 17 | Iker LECUONA | HONDA | +1m49.674 |
| Not Classified | |||
| DNF | Enea BASTIANINI | DUCATI | 4 laps |
| DNF | Marc MARQUEZ | HONDA | 6 laps |
| DNF | Marco BEZZECCHI | DUCATI | 15 laps |
| DNF | Alex MARQUEZ | DUCATI | 15 laps |
| DNF | Joan MIR | HONDA | 18 laps |
Max Speeds Across Race Weekend
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Average | Top |
| 1 | Maverick VIÑALES | APRILIA | 332.6 | 334.3 |
| 2 | Enea BASTIANINI | DUCATI | 332.6 | 334.3 |
| 3 | Jorge MARTIN | DUCATI | 333.7 | 334.3 |
| 4 | Luca MARINI | DUCATI | 332.1 | 333.3 |
| 5 | Raul FERNANDEZ | APRILIA | 329.5 | 333.3 |
| 6 | Marco BEZZECCHI | DUCATI | 331.5 | 333.3 |
| 7 | Francesco BAGNAIA | DUCATI | 330.7 | 332.3 |
| 8 | Johann ZARCO | DUCATI | 330.2 | 332.3 |
| 9 | Brad BINDER | KTM | 329.6 | 330.2 |
| 10 | Aleix ESPARGARO | APRILIA | 330.2 | 330.2 |
| 11 | Jack MILLER | KTM | 328.8 | 330.2 |
| 12 | Pol ESPARGARO | KTM | 328.8 | 330.2 |
| 13 | Alex MARQUEZ | DUCATI | 307.6 | 330.2 |
| 14 | Franco MORBIDELLI | YAMAHA | 327.2 | 329.2 |
| 15 | Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO | DUCATI | 328.1 | 329.2 |
| 16 | Marc MARQUEZ | HONDA | 327.7 | 329.2 |
| 17 | Fabio QUARTARARO | YAMAHA | 327.6 | 328.2 |
| 18 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | APRILIA | 327.6 | 328.2 |
| 19 | Iker LECUONA | HONDA | 324.3 | 326.2 |
| 20 | Augusto FERNANDEZ | KTM | 324.9 | 325.3 |
| 21 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | HONDA | 320.4 | 323.3 |
| 22 | Joan MIR | HONDA | 316.7 | 320.4 |
MotoGP Championship Points
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Bagnaia | 214 |
| 2 | Martin | 173 |
| 3 | Bezzecchi | 167 |
| 4 | Binder | 131 |
| 5 | Zarco | 122 |
| 6 | Espargaro | 107 |
| 7 | Marini | 107 |
| 8 | Miller | 90 |
| 9 | Marquez | 75 |
| 10 | Viñales | 74 |
| 11 | Quartararo | 65 |
| 12 | Morbidelli | 59 |
| 13 | Fernandez | 49 |
| 14 | Rins | 47 |
| 15 | Oliveira | 40 |
| 16 | Di Giannantonio | 37 |
| 17 | Nakagami | 34 |
| 18 | Bastianini | 18 |
| 19 | Marquez | 15 |
| 20 | Fernandez | 14 |
| 21 | Pedrosa | 13 |
| 22 | Savadori | 9 |
| 23 | Folger | 9 |
| 24 | Pirro | 5 |
| 25 | Mir | 5 |
| 26 | Petrucci | 5 |
| 27 | Bradl | 5 |
| 28 | Espargaro | 4 |
| 29 | Lecuona | 0 |
2023 MotoGP Calendar
| Rnd | Date | Location |
| 11 | Aug-20 | Austria, Red Bull Ring |
| 12 | Sep-03 | Catalunya, Catalunya |
| 13 | Sep-10 | San Marino, Misano |
| 14 | Sep-24 | India, Buddh (Subject to homologation) |
| 15 | Oct-01 | Japan, Motegi |
| 16 | Oct-15 | Indonesia, Mandalika |
| 17 | Oct-22 | Australia, Phillip Island |
| 18 | Oct-29 | Thailand, Chang |
| 19 | Nov-12 | Malaysia, Sepang |
| 20 | Nov-19 | Qatar, Lusail |
| 21 | Nov-26 | Valenciana, Valencia |
