British Grand Prix Silverstone MotoGP Race: a blow in the water!

It is in a very special atmosphere that this twelfth Grand Prix of the MotoGP season begins. The fault lies with a Silverstone track that was ultimately more massacred than improved by work on its surface which did more harm than good. The bumps were the pitfall in the dry, but in the wet, a drainage asymptote of zero in certain sectors endangers pilots. To face the crisis, schedules have been turned upside down in order to avoid showers as much as possible. So here we are on duty at 12:30 p.m. By the way, what's the weather like? It's raining ! 13° on the track as in the air... The early start to avoid the wrath of the sky is a failure...

Speaking of time, here is the table which recalls that given by the stopwatch:

Silverstone MotoGP™	2017	2018
FP1	2'02.130 Maverick Vinales (See here)	2'02.073 Maverick Vinales (See here)
FP2	2'00.897 Cal Crutchlow (See here)	2'01.385 Andrea Dovizioso (See here)
FP3	2'01.734 Johann Zarco (See here)	2'01.866 Cal Crutchlow (See here)
FP4	2'01.060 Jorge Lorenzo (See here)	2'01.571 Maverick Vinales (See here)
Qualification 1	2'00.830 Dani Pedrosa (See here)	2'13.340 Bradley Smith (See here)
Qualification 2	1'59.941 Marc Marquez (See here)	2'10.155 Jorge Lorenzo
Warm Up	2'01.622 Andrea Iannone (See here)
Course	Dovizioso, Vinales, Rossi (See here)
All time lap record	1'59.941 Marc Marquez 2017

 

On the sporting side, we recall that Ducati has every reason to rejoice before embarking on this Battle of Britain: it is the second time this year that Jorge Lorenzo dominates qualifying, a performance which also constitutes his second pole position in red, as many asAndrea Iannone. Andrea Dovizioso, winner of the previous edition, will occupy second place on the grid. The Italian has not left the front row for three races. Finally, the last time Ducati scored a double in qualifying was at the 2006 Italian GP with Sete Gibernau et Loris Capirossi. This situation had only happened three times before in MotoGP.

For its part, Johann zarco, who had not been on the front row since his pole position at Le Mans, took the third fastest time in qualifying. The Frenchman will thus serve as the best Yamaha representative on the grid. A brand which has no longer distinguished itself since the triumph of Valentino Rossi at Assen 2017, which constitutes his longest drought since 1997-1998. The same Doctor was credited with the 12th time at the end of qualifying. He has already missed the third line four times this year. The nine-time World Champion was, however, present on the podium during the last four visits to Silverstone.

At Honda, it's Cal Crutchlow which asserts itself as the best positioned on the grid. On the second row, this is his best place since his Assen qualifying. Marc Márquez will start from fifth position. You have to go back to Mugello to see him less well placed on the grid (6th). Last year, the Catalan suffered an engine failure while fighting among the leading trio.

But all this will have been for nothing since MotoGP plans to leave Great Britain without having given its performance. This twelfth round of the season promises to be a dead end. But for Marc Marquez, rather a godsend with a status quo in the championship which would further consolidate its hold on the general classification…

A race has been planned for Monday, which will be a public holiday in Great Britain... Because imagine that it is the summer holiday! Beautiful irony!

A scenario that will not happen. The British Grand Prix is ​​therefore under threat of permanent cancellation. A first in the MotoGP era… By the way: Honda and Yamaha did not want to postpone until Monday and Suzuki followed, Ducati was willing…

But it will be said that not everything will have been tried to save this Grand Prix from the waters. We therefore learn that a last attempt for a race at 15:00 p.m. and 16 laps will be launched…

… Except that at 15:00 p.m., the starting grid remains desperately empty… So, we communicate differently…

At 17:05 p.m. finally ends an epic story that began at 12:30 p.m. which led nowhere, since the cancellation of the British Grand Prix was announced. In any case, some have kept their sense of humor…