2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round Ten – Silverstone
The 10th round of the season, the Monster Energy British Grand Prix, also marks the end of the first half of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship.
Since the start of the season, numerous records have been broken in front of hundreds of thousands of spectators, such as at the Michelin Grand Prix de France, which welcomed nearly 300,000 people in May, including 119,145 on Sunday alone. This weekend, the stands at Silverstone, with a capacity of 160,000, will also be packed with spectators to cheer their MotoGP heroes.
A former Royal Air Force base, the Silverstone circuit is located just an hour from Birmingham’s centre to the north, and 1.5 hours from London to the south. It was founded in 1947 by a group of racing enthusiast friends and hosted its first motorcycle Grand Prix in 1977. With a length of 5.9 km, it has eight left turns and ten right turns, plus one straight of 770 m.
MotoGP celebrates its 75th anniversary throughout 2024 and the festivities kick up a gear at the Monster Energy British Grand Prix. For the first time in the sport’s 75-year history, every bike and rider on the grid will race with a special, one-off livery at Silverstone – and all with a touch of retro style.
The British GP Thursday Press Conferences saw reigning Champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing), Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) and Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) all take to the stage on Thursday.
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team)
It was a busy summer break, your confidence must be sky high…
“Honestly it was good for a small stop after the GP at the Sachsenring. I went to Sardinia with my wife and it was fantastic to have a bit of rest, and then on the week of the wedding, I started to train again. It wasn’t easy to focus on the training, knowing that I was getting married in five days but honestly, it was a fantastic day which I enjoyed a lot and everything was fantastic, more beautiful than what I expected so it was great. Then we had the World Ducati Week and it is not easy for a Ducati rider to relax on this kind of weekend as you want to be everywhere to meet the Ducati fans which is difficult to do. But I really enjoyed everything and I hope the Ducati fans had a good opportunity to enjoy it with us and enjoy the race and the show.”
Is Silverstone a good track to try and continue this amazing run?
“I love the layout of the track, it is one of the nicest for sure and it is very long and very smooth, not very bumpy. This season we will discover new weather as it is not normally this hot but I think I will enjoy and I love this layout.”
Were you more nervous when getting married or sitting on the grid before a race?
“It is different but honestly, I have never cried like this when I was walking with my mum when I arrived at the front. It was a very emotional moment when we had to say yes, I was more nervous than when I am at a GP.”
Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing)
Time to relax and reflect on the summer break, what lessons did you learn and will you change anything?
“First of all, I want to congratulate Pecco, I did it in private but I wanted to say it now. It was an amazing moment for him and I have known him for a lot of years so it is fantastic. It was nice to stop as Pecco said, I didn’t stop trying as I wasn’t able to switch off completely. Even if I was on the beach, I was still trying to not lose my fitness. I was analysing with the team to take a look back at the later crashes at Mugello and Jerez and it seems like there are similar situations. Let’s try and work on it and try and avoid it in the future as we lost the lead and some good opportunities for victory.”
Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP)
Silverstone can’t be more different than the Sachsenring, so do you feel you have the tools to fight for the win this weekend?
“We are coming from a good summer break, where we had time to relax so we will try and start the second part of the season in a good way. Silverstone as Pecco said is a good circuit and let’s see as I don’t want to say anything before, we start riding because these two guys are a bit faster than us.”
You had your first taste of World Ducati Week during the summer break, has that helped you understand what it means to be a part of the Ducati family?
“It was my first event with the Ducati family and already the big bosses said to me that I will start to feel what it means. I understood then that Ducati is not just about MotoGP, it is their philosophy and the Ducatista were supporting us there and were cheering a lot.”
Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing)
What a great chance you have this weekend to put Aprilia on the top step of the podium…
“It is a very special place, last year the victory was fantastic but I think one of the best days in the history of Aprilia was three years ago when we finished on the podium for the first time with Aprilia. It is a layout which I always have a lot of fun and one where Aprilia is really really good so hopefully, we can make our super design shine on Sunday.”
How special is it for you to race in the Max Biaggi 250cc design?
“I love this design and Max’s 250cc was my favourite bike ever, he won the 1994, 1995 and 1996 World Championships and I think it looks amazing – I think they call it ‘black pearl’. It looks amazing, not just because it is beautiful but because it looks really racey and aggressive. It is the DNA of Aprilia and Max was an idol when I was a kid and today, he is my friend and I am really proud to race in his colours.”
Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing MotoGP)
You must be delighted to have your future secured with Trackhouse Racing…
“I am really happy to remain with the team, I think the key was to try and continue with this project and with Aprilia. Since Davide arrived at the team something changed and I started having fun on the bike and tried to enjoy. I feel like there was an important moment and when I saw that since Qatar we worked well and I think it was my best moment in the MotoGP. I am really happy as I will have a new challenge for next year as we will have another two strong riders so it is a really good target and chance for me so I am happy t continue with Davide and Aprilia.”
You get the upgrade to the 2024 spec this weekend, what are you expecting?
“Already in tests I have tried at the Jerez Test which I remember it was more or less the same. But in my case, it was not the same as Ducati where we had another ’23 bike on the grid to try to compare data and understand some situations. Sometimes we had to look at the data from last year to understand some things so now it is not an excuse, I will have the same data as the factory riders and Miguel. Now it is time to be clear and to try and do my maximum and now it is clear if we have some problems, we can check the data and we will see faster solutions.”
How do you feel about your special livery?
“For us, it is a difficult situation as it is the first year of Trackhouse in MotoGP, so we don’t have an old design. To have these people on the bike is a dream as when I was really young, I saw a lot of them on the TV and I saw a lot of races with them. It is really nice and it is different as it is not old school.”
Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team)
What convinced you to sign the new contract with Honda?
“I think it was the most natural step to do at the moment as in 2023 I came to Honda with a challenge to reverse the situation a bit when they crossed a difficult moment in their history. Somehow these two years were not enough for us to bring the bike back in a competitive way so if I left, we were failing with the problem that we were having. I think everyone in the paddock knows what Honda can do, the thing is when. The upgrades that we will get and the project that they have and at the end of the season if we see some improvements and then at the end of the year I was to leave, crossing a difficult moment personally and professionally in these two years, for me, it did not make sense for me to go and I will be happy if we can overcome the situation. It is nice to have two more years for us to come back where we deserve.”
Is there anything new to try this weekend?
“They are working very hard, harder than what I saw since I came here but at Silverstone, we will not get any big upgrades, the upgrades will come in Austria. We will start to see some shines of performance but the plan for the end of the season is busy in terms of what we have to try so it will be interesting to see if we are able to get step by step closer to the top.”
Talk to us about your special helmet and bike designs for this weekend…
“I am very happy with how the bike looks, it is fantastic and it is one of the most beautiful bikes that I have seen and is close to Aleix’s Aprilia in terms of beautiful. As you know Honda’s history is huge and they have lots to choose from and I think they were right to choose this one. I also wanted to make a tribute to Randy Mamola, who was also riding that bike, with his style and because he is a fantastic guy it is very special for me to be able to do this for him. I hope we will struggle less this weekend and we can enjoy a bit.”
MotoGP Championship Standings
| Pos | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Bagnaia | 222 |
| 2 | Martin | 212 |
| 3 | Marquez | 166 |
| 4 | Bastianini | 155 |
| 5 | Viñales | 125 |
| 6 | Acosta | 110 |
| 7 | Binder | 108 |
| 8 | Di Giannantonio | 92 |
| 9 | Espargaro | 82 |
| 10 | Marquez | 79 |
| 11 | Morbidelli | 55 |
| 12 | Bezzecchi | 53 |
| 13 | Oliveira | 51 |
| 14 | Fernandez | 46 |
| 15 | Quartararo | 44 |
| 16 | Miller | 35 |
| 17 | Fernandez | 17 |
| 18 | Mir | 13 |
| 19 | Zarco | 12 |
| 20 | Nakagami | 9 |
| 21 | Rins | 8 |
| 22 | Pedrosa | 7 |
| 23 | Marini | 0 |
| 24 | Bradl | 0 |
