A rollercoaster of a British Grand Prix sees Aprilia return to winning ways in dramatic style
Sunday, 25 May 2025
In motorsport, timing is everything—and for Aprilia Racing, Marco Bezzecchi’s win at the Tissot Grand Prix of the United Kingdom couldn’t have been better timed. On a Sunday packed with incident at Silverstone, the Italian seized the moment to deliver a breakthrough victory, just as title contenders fell by the wayside. Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team), Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) all suffered crashes, while Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) saw his hopes of a long-awaited win cruelly dashed by a technical failure while leading the race. Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) capitalized to finish second, and despite an earlier fall, Marc Marquez stormed back to grab third in a thrilling, unpredictable contest.
Drama From the Start
The chaos kicked off as soon as the lights went out. Alex Marquez rocketed off the line from the front row and briefly led—until disaster struck. Heading into Turn 1, he lost the front with no warning and slid out, seemingly ending his race then and there. Meanwhile, brother Marc surged into the lead, followed closely by Quartararo and Bagnaia.
But the first-lap drama wasn’t done. Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and Aleix Espargaro (Honda HRC Test Team) collided at the Vale chicane, resulting in an oil spill that would soon trigger a red flag. Just moments before that decision came, Marc Marquez crashed at Turn 11, taking out the top two in the championship in a single lap. Fortunately for them, the red flag meant a full race restart—since fewer than three laps had been completed, every rider could rejoin, albeit on their second-choice machines. A lucky break? Absolutely.
Restart Brings More Mayhem
The reset shortened the race to 19 laps. Bagnaia took the holeshot at the second start, but Quartararo quickly muscled past him at Turn 3 to grab the lead. Marc Marquez dispatched Alex Marquez and then Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) at Brooklands to climb back into contention.
By the end of the first lap, Quartararo had pulled out a 1.2-second gap. Miller followed up with an aggressive move on Bagnaia, making it a Yamaha one-two. Marquez, meanwhile, ran wide at Copse, slipping behind Zarco. Quartararo’s lead ballooned to 2.4 seconds, while Zarco overtook Bagnaia for third. Marc Marquez followed suit, making his way past the defending champion.
Then came a turning point: both factory Ducati riders, Marquez and Bagnaia, ran wide—separately but simultaneously—at Copse, dropping them back to ninth and tenth. Things only got worse for Bagnaia when he lost the front through Luffield and crashed out, ending his day.
With Bagnaia gone, Bezzecchi moved into third, Zarco ran fourth, and Alex Marquez climbed to fifth. At the front, Quartararo’s lead extended to nearly four seconds over Miller, with the chasing pack scrambling behind.
A key variable was tyre choice: the leading group—Quartararo, Miller, Bezzecchi, and Zarco—all ran soft front Michelins, a compound yet to be proven over race distance. Would it hold?
Bezzecchi Begins the Hunt
On Lap 6, Bezzecchi and Zarco both got the better of Miller, dropping the Australian to fourth in just a few corners. With clean air ahead, Bezzecchi set his sights on Quartararo. The gap stood at 5.3 seconds—but it quickly began to fall. First to five flat, then 4.7, and then 4.4. The chase was on.
Further back, Marc Marquez was carving his way through the field. He overtook brother Alex at Vale, then picked off Miller soon after. Alex, meanwhile, made a mistake at the same corner, dropping a place to Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol). Marquez now had Zarco in his sights.
Bezzecchi continued to close. His fastest lap—a scorching 1:59.770—underscored his pace as the race tipped past halfway.
Cruel Luck for Quartararo
Just when it seemed Quartararo was on course to end his long winless streak, disaster struck. With his arm raised, it became clear something was wrong. A malfunction in the rear ride height device had locked the YZR-M1’s geometry, and despite his efforts to reset it mid-race, there was no saving it. His race was over.
The lead—gifted on a silver platter—now belonged to Bezzecchi.
A Final Charge
Bezzecchi was nearly three seconds clear of Zarco, who himself held a cushion over Marc Marquez. But the battle for the final podium spot was far from over. Miller, Morbidelli, Alex Marquez, and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) were all within reach.
Miller and Alex Marquez locked horns in a fantastic scrap, while Morbidelli clung to the back of Marc Marquez, who had stretched his lead over the chasing pack to eight tenths. Out front, Bezzecchi was cruising, his advantage now over four seconds.
With one lap to go, the drama wasn’t done. Morbidelli passed Marquez at Turn 3, only for the Spaniard to strike back. Copse saw Morbidelli edge ahead again. But Marquez wasn’t finished. A strong drive out of Turn 14 gave him the inside line into Stowe, but Morbidelli tried one last move at Vale. It didn’t stick—he ran wide—and Marquez reclaimed third on the cutback in a nail-biting finish. Alex Marquez followed closely, with Morbidelli slotting in behind the brothers.
Victory at Last
Bezzecchi, unbothered by the chaos behind, crossed the line to take his first win in Aprilia colours—an emotional and timely triumph for both rider and team. Zarco, after shining in France, bagged another impressive second-place finish. Hats off to both.
Acosta surged late to claim sixth, just ahead of Miller. Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) initially took eighth—matching Honda’s best result of the year—but was penalized 16 seconds for low tyre pressure, knocking him back.
That lifted Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), and Mir into the top 10. Maverick Viñales, Raul Fernandez, Alex Rins, Brad Binder, and the penalized Marini rounded out the points.
Next: Aragon Awaits
What a race. What a Sunday. Aprilia returned to the top, Quartararo suffered agony, and the championship battle just got even more intense. Next up: MotorLand Aragon. Expect the unexpected.
Images @bombercountymedia
