MOTO GP

Fernandez wins British GP

MotoGP wrapped up its visit to Silverstone with a British GP marked by numerous crashes, resulting in a total of six retirements. Aprilia lived up to expectations and swept the podium, led by a dominant performance from Raúl Fernández, followed by Jorge Martín and Marco Bezzecchi. 

Meanwhile, Diogo Moreira faced issues at the start but recovered to finish 10th.

The Spanish driver Raul Fernandez of the Trekhaus team is the winner of today's race in the Moto GP Championship for Great Britain at the Silverstone circuit.

Fernandez achieved his first victory this season in the royal class, and the second in his career, with a result of 39:45.93.

Second place at the Great Britain Grand Prix was won by Spanish Aprilia driver Jorge Martin, who was 2.538 seconds behind the winner. Another Aprilia driver, Italian Marco Beceki, was third, 3.393 seconds behind Fernandez.

Martin holds the first place in the overall ranking of drivers with 240 points, while Beceki is second with 209.

However, the Spaniard bounced back on Sunday, taking the lead right off the line before pulling away from the rest of the pack to beat Jorge Martín’s factory Aprilia by more than 2.5 seconds. This marked the second victory of Fernández's premier-class career and his first of 2026, reigniting his hopes for a potential title challenge.

Speaking after the race, Fernández admitted he had been blaming himself following a difficult Saturday but managed to regain his composure: "What did I tell myself [after the crash]? That I’m an idiot."

"Because we had talked with [Trackhouse team principal] David [Brivio] about not making mistakes, and I made a stupid one. Of course, it all started with a bad start, but after that, I didn't handle the situation well, and that’s why I was so frustrated with myself."

Fernández used Sunday morning's warm-up session to regroup; the extra track time allowed him to explore the limits of the Michelin tires and calm down after his sprint race crash.

"Today, I was really focused, because what I can control is what depends on me; so, I focused on myself. As I’ve said many times, when something makes me angry, I’m able to channel that anger into positive energy." “This morning, I went out [in the warm-up] to let off some steam so I wouldn't make mistakes in the race. I was pretty annoyed with myself and maybe pushed too hard. That’s when I realized the tire’s limit was probably around 1:58.4 or 1:58.5, so I immediately tried to stay in the low 1:59s [during the race].

“So, I learned what the rear tire’s limit was. That’s why I didn’t worry about tire performance in the final part of the race.”

Fernández stated that the decision to use the soft rear tire—despite the expectation of high degradation—contributed to his crash in the sprint race. However, he thanked his boss, Brivio, for helping him bounce back from Saturday’s disappointment and return to the top step of the podium.

“Yesterday, I was considering [using] the medium rear tire right up until the last moment. So, it was a compromise; I wasn't fully convinced by that decision." "So, during the sprint, I was frustrated, and perhaps that’s also why I crashed yesterday." Unlike on Saturday, Fernández got a better start than Martín and shot into the lead, while the championship leader ran into trouble at Turn 1, with his bike throwing sparks. By the second sector, yellow flags were out for Mir and Rins.

At the end of the first of 20 laps, Raúl Fernández held a lead of over a second over Bezzecchi, who was a second ahead of Martín. Marc Márquez, Ai Ogura, Pedro Acosta, and Álex Márquez followed, while Moreira dropped to 17th.

Ogura was experiencing issues with his bike during the opening laps; it was shaking excessively. This caused the Japanese rider to lose pace and positions, dropping to seventh by the start of the third lap.

By lap five, Fernández was cruising comfortably at the front, opening a gap of nearly three seconds over Bezzecchi, who kept Martín a second behind. Marc Márquez was fourth, 1.2 seconds back, under pressure from Álex, Acosta, and Ogura. Moreira moved up to 16th, one spot outside the points.

Shortly after, two consecutive yellow flags—caused by crashes involving Bastianini and Lecuona—promoted Moreira to 14th place. Further up the field, Marc struggled to maintain a strong pace, just as he had in the sprint; he dropped to sixth, losing places to Álex and Acosta.

Further back, two more crashes—involving Crutchlow and Bagnaia—added to the race's long list of retirements as early as lap 8, before the event had even reached the halfway mark.

At the halfway point, Fernández remained comfortably in the lead with a 4.4-second advantage—now over Martín, who had overtaken Bezzecchi. Shaking up the championship standings, another crash occurred—this time involving Ogura at Club, the circuit's final sequence of corners.

At this stage, Fernández led Martín by 4.4 seconds, while Martín had opened up a 0.8-second gap over... Bezzecchi. Acosta was fourth, 1.1 seconds back, followed by Álex and Marc Márquez. Moreira was 13th, 0.4 seconds behind Miller.

Martín showed better pace than Fernández, but not enough to mount a real challenge for the win, cutting the gap to 3.4 seconds with four laps to go. Bezzecchi was third, 1.6 seconds back and under heavy pressure from Álex Márquez, with Acosta in fifth. Moreira continued to make progress, holding 11th place, 1.5 seconds behind Marini.

“But I’m happy because the team—or, at this moment—gave me something. When I feel that kind of frustration, the team gives me something that turns into positive energy. I use that frustration to go faster, so maybe that helped.”...said Martín

The next race in the Moto GP championship will be held on August 30 for the Aragon Grand Prix.

Autonews