MotoGP Silverstone FP1 LIVE: Beauty and the Beast…

After a four-week break, the Championship World MotoGP comes out of its summer torpor to go to the Silverstone circuit and celebrate the 75th anniversary of the motorcycle Grands Prix. 

More than a simple Excel table, our graph allows you to immediately see the highlights of the first part of the season, with in particular the change of leader made during the German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, George Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) having arrived there with 10 points in advance and having left before as much delay on the new leader, the reigning champion Francis Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). On the side of the Reds, who like the other teams will ride with a special 75th anniversary vintage livery, the confidence is all the more complete as the spearhead of Pramac seems to have marked time in Germany...

Francis Bagnaia : “Honestly, it was good to have a little break after the GP at Sachsenring. I went to Sardinia with my wife and it was fantastic to rest a bit, then the week of the wedding I started training again. It wasn't easy to concentrate on training, knowing that I was getting married in five days, but honestly it was a fantastic day that I enjoyed very much and everything was fantastic, more beautiful than I expected. was expecting, so it was great. Then we had World Ducati Week and it's not easy for a Ducati rider to relax during that kind of weekend because you want to be everywhere to meet the Ducati fans, which is hard to do. But I really enjoyed everything and I hope the Ducati fans had a good opportunity to enjoy the race and the show with us.
I like the layout of the track, it's one of the most beautiful, it's very long and very smooth, not very bumpy. This season we're going to experience some new weather conditions because it's not normally this hot, but I think I'm going to have fun and I love this track. »

George Martin : “It was good to stop, like Pecco said, but I wasn't able to completely disconnect. Even though I was on the beach, I still tried not to lose my shape. I analyzed with the team the last crashes at Mugello and Jerez and it seems that there are similar situations. Let's try to work on it and avoid this in the future, because we lost the lead and some good opportunities for victory. »

For the 3rd step of the final podium, but at a distance, a duel opposes Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) at Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team), the two men themselves being detached in front of a trio composed of Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing), from which we expect a lot on the British track which is well suited to Aprilias, ahead Peter Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) who are competing this year for the place of “best KTM” before finding themselves in the same box next year.

Three other pilots, Fabio DiGiannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Alex Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) latest winner at Silverstone and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) winner of the 2023 Sprint, stand out from a peloton in which we find a few athletes with a still uncertain future, such as Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing) which is said about the departure of the American team, Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) or Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3).

Of course, the major event of Thursday was the magnificent presentation of the vintage MotoGP liveries…

But to write the tenth chapter of this 2024 MotoGP season, it will be necessary to cover the 10 meter route 5900 times during the Sprint on Saturday and complete 20 loops on Sunday, on a track with a grippy and not very abrasive surface characterized by rapid, fluid sequences. without major braking and restarts. Brembo sleeps soundly, Michelin provided a harder hard front tire...

Of the current full-time riders, 8 have reached the podium at Silverstone in MotoGP: Maverick Vinales (4), Marc Marquez (3), Alex Rins (2), Francesco Bagnaia (2), Aleix Espargaro (2), Fabio Quartararo (1), Jack Miller (1) and Brad Binder (1).
3 took pole position: Marc Marquez (5), Johann Zarco (1) and Marco Bezzecchi (1).

There have been nine different winners in the last nine MotoGP™ races at Silverstone: Lorenzo (2013), Marc Marquez (2014), Rossi (2015), Viñales (2016), Dovizioso (2017), Rins (2019), Quartararo (2021), Bagnaia (2022), A. Espargaro (2023). Another winner would become the 10th winner in the last 10 races here.

The records are set in 1'57.767 for pole position (Johann zarco) since 2021, and 340,6 km/h for the speed (Enea Bastianini) since 2022!

 

As for the weather forecast, we are in England…

While waiting to discover more, when the 23 pilots (Remy gardner is Wildcard for Yamaha instead of Cal Crutchlow) are preparing for this first 45-minute free practice session, under a rather clear sky and temperatures of 21° in the air and 30° on the ground, let's take advantage of these few live moments thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

Here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

MotoGP™ Great Britain, Silverstone	2023	2024
FP1	2'00.295 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	1'59.383 Jorge Martin (See here)
Practice	1'58.183 Aleix Espargaro (See here)	(See here)
FP2	2'18.076 Fabio Di Giannantonio (See here)	(See here)
Q1	2'15.884 Franco Morbidelli (See here)	(See here)
Q2	2'15.359 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	(See here)
Sprint	Alex Marquez Bezzecchi Vinales (See here)	(See here)
Warm Up	2'10.207 Marco Bezzecchi (See here)	(See here)
Course	Espargaro, Bagnaia, Binder (See here)	(See here)
All time lap record	1'57.767 Johann Zarco 2022 (See here)

When the red lights go out... the tradition is not respected since Franco Morbidelli rushes ahead, Raul fernandez the last.

Everyone uses a medium in the rear and a soft in the front, except Jack Miller, Miguel Oliveira, Maverick Vinales and Marc Marquez who opted for the medium before.

At the end of the first flying lap, we already find the two official Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro at the top of the table, “Top Gun” registering the first reference in 2'01.436.

The RS-GP's warm-up is impressive on this circuit, with an immediate lead of more than a second over their opponents...

On the next pass, only 1/1000 separates the two Noale pilots, Maverick Vinales still retaining the lead in 2'00.319.

Two laps later, we witness an offensive from the KTMs Brad Binder and Jack Miller who temporarily seize leadership, before bowing again to Alex Espargaro in 1'59.769. Francesco Bagnaia then moves to the second provisional position.

At the end of the first run, the hierarchy is composed of Aleix Espargaro, Francesco Bagnaia, Alex Márquez, Franco Morbidelli, Brad Binder, Jack Miller, Maverick Vinales, Marc Márquez, Miguel Oliveira, Pedro Acosta, Johann Zarco, Fabio Quartararo, Raul Fernandez, Jorge Martin, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Enea Bastianini, Alex Rins, Augusto Fernandez, Takaaki Nakagami, Joan Mir, Marco Bezzecchi, Luca Marini and Remy Gardner.

Marco BezzecchI broke one of these seat fins while getting on his bike, but that didn't stop him from moving up to 14th place...

Upon resumption, Enea Bastianini confirms the good performance of the official Ducatis by moving up to 3rd position.

After a very cautious first run, Jorge Martin rises to 2nd place, 30/1000 fromAlex Espargaro, while Davide Tardozzi reveals the composition of the VR 46 2025 team at the Canal+ microphone: Fabio DiGiannantonio on a GP 25, Franco Morbidelli on a GP 24!

George Martin continues his effort and posts 1'59.627 at the top of the table 16 minutes from the checkered flag, when Marc Márquez joins the top 5.

At 11 minutes from the end of the session, when most of the drivers return to their box to prepare for the final rush, the ranking shows Jorge Martin, Aleix Espargaro, Francesco Bagnaia, Maverick Vinales, Marc Márquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Enea Bastianini, Jack Miller, Alex Márquez, Franco Morbidelli, Brad Binder, Pedro Acosta, Fabio Quartararo, Miguel Oliveira, Marco Bezzecchi, Johann Zarco, Raul Fernandez, Joan Mir, Alex Rins, Luca Marini, Augusto Fernandez, Takaaki Nakagami and Remy Gardner.

In a slight shift, Fabio DiGiannantonio climbs to third position, still with a medium rear tire having already covered 11 laps.

Peter Acosta pulls straight and makes a minor mistake at turn #6.

So in 13th position, fabio quartararo passes a soft rear tire and he is the only one to do so. Finally, he will be hampered by Jack Miller in his fast lap.

Conversely, George Martin improves his time to 1'59.509 with a rear tire of 13 laps.

Marc Márquez makes a minor mistake at turn #15 but still does a nice somersault...

George Martin persists and signs, this time in 1'59.383, giving itself an advantage of 3/10 over the first Aprilia ofAlex Espargaro.

In extremis, Maverick Vinales However, it manages to reduce this gap to 90/1000.

FP1 MotoGP standings for the 2024 British Grand Prix at Silverstone:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com

MotoGP Silverstone